Artsci Student Claire Crawford Published in Canadian Journal for the Academic Mind

The Arts & Science Program is proud to share Claire Crawford, a Level III Arts & Science student, was recently published in Canadian Journal for the Academic Mind, “a student-run/student-focused, non-profit, interdisciplinary, open-access research publication dedicated to bringing together the best and brightest minds from across the world to share their ideas and research,” (Canadian Journal for the Academic Mind, 2024).

Claire’s paper, entitled “The Internet as A Democratic Hellscape: How Social Media Sites Violate Natural Law,” applies John Locke’s political philosophy to analyze the 2018 Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, highlighting the harms of misinformation in the digital sphere.

Claire authored the original draft of the now-published paper as an essay for the Level II Social and Political Thought (ARTSSCI 2A06) course with Dr. Clark in the Fall of 2023. “I really enjoyed the flexibility we were given to explore our own ideas and interests through the topics and theorists introduced in class: the only restriction on the assignment was that it must interact with at least one of the theorists we had covered thus far in the course,” Claire said. “It was a unique experience to see the diverse array of interests within the program despite engaging with the same text(s).”

The biggest learning from this assignment: you’re your own biggest critic. “It’s worth it to take a shot at something you want, even if you think it’s outside of your reach,” says Claire. “It’s ultimately better to risk rejection than live with regrets of not trying in the first place.”

Read Claire’s paper here.