Melissa Harris Haislop '11
China's Environmental Crisis: The Effects of Modernization
China’s modernization has brought significant
wealth to the country, but it has also created a major
environmental crisis
that affects China and
the world. The effects
are devastating to
China’s environment,
and the problem has
now become one of
global concern as the
effects of the pollution
spread globally. China
must find a remedy for
the environmental crisis, but the cost of the rehabilitation
of the environment could well terminate China’s
economic growth.
Elisabeth Maddrell '11
A New Facebook Application: How the First Amendment Applies to Facebook
Facebook has become a social networking
phenomenon, reaching 500 million users in 2010.
However, with the explosion of daily usage, the question
of whether or not the
First Amendment
applies to information shared and
disseminated through
Facebook has arisen.
Many think of
Facebook as a quasipublic
arena to post
private information, but
what happens when a
private post becomes public? Is that speech protected
under the First Amendment? The First Amendment is
cherished by all Americans; however, as decades have
passed, the interpretations of the Amendment have
mirrored the progressions of society, and as Facebook
grows in popularity, so do the legal cases surrounding it.
The cases of Tinker v. DeMoines, Bethel v. Fraser, and
Pickering v. Board of Education shed light on how the
courts will rule on Facebook cases. Although there are
some varied distinctions that Facebook cases raise, the
Supreme Court has set a precedent that First
Amendment rights outweigh all others as long as the
educational environment is not hindered in any fashion.
Kimberly Parker '11
Clinton v. Obama: Presidential Health Care Reform Agendas
In both 1992
and 2008, health care
reform was a major presidential priority. President Bill Clinton and President
Barack Obama used different strategies to pursue their
reforms, and one was more successful than the other in
the passage of legislation. This study used political
scientist and presidential scholar Paul Light’s theory of
presidential agenda-setting to compare and contrast the
two approaches, focusing on the relative significance of
five factors: popularity of the president; party unity and
control of Congress; public opinion about the policy issue;
the effects of rhetorical strategies; and the size and
timing of the policy window.
