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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Effect Of Waste And Waste Management On The University Of Maine And Community During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Alexis Welch
The Effect Of Waste And Waste Management On The University Of Maine And Community During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Alexis Welch
Honors College
The Covid-19 pandemic closed the University of Maine the second week of March. Quickly following, most of the country was on lockdown. The virus also has directly affected the University of Maine and its waste stream due to the drastic changes in population and the types of waste being produced. The purpose of this study is to first analyze the direct effects on the amount of waste produced per category on campus in 2019 compared to 2020. The main categories are municipal solid waste, single stream, compost, demo debris, metals, electronics, hazardous waste, universal waste, and biowaste. The second purpose …
The Defense Of American Exceptionalism: President Trump's Covid-19 Rhetoric, Sabrina Paetow
The Defense Of American Exceptionalism: President Trump's Covid-19 Rhetoric, Sabrina Paetow
Honors College
This thesis uses grounded theory and content analysis to examine the political rhetoric President Donald Trump used in the Coronavirus Task Force press briefings during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. I collected 44 transcripts of these press briefings from when they began on February 26, 2020 until April 27, 2020. This time frame marks the period during which the press briefings happened with consistency and when Trump spoke at all of them. Through my research, I established that United States presidents have employed rhetorical tropes of American exceptionalism, including Trump. Trump invoked American exceptionalism in a three-pronged rhetorical …
Political Polarization And The Dissemination Of Misinformation: The United States Pandemic Response As A Cautionary Tale, Mary Giglio
Honors College
This thesis discusses the failings of theUnited States response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it has been shaped by the nation’s intense political polarization and the widespread dissemination of misinformation. In this thesis, I critically examine the government’s initial response to the pandemic, including its lack of preparedness and the ineffectiveness of its eventual policies. I also attempt to explain the influence of political polarization on the states, resulting in congressional gridlock, as well as wildly varying policies regarding lockdowns and mask mandates. I connect the increasing prevalence of misinformation today to the historically recent rise of postmodernism, a …