A law student has channelled '90s hit Clueless in a 10,000-word dissertation on refugees. Toju Adelaja, 21, submitted the essay last week as part of her Common Law degree at the University of Glasgow.
She based her argument around a quote from the 1995 rom-com film, in which spoiled teenager Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) navigates high school life with a worldview informed solely by her rich lifestyle. Ms Adelaja, from Gravesend, Kent, hopes to achieve a first-class degree before moving into commercial law practice and doing pro bono work on immigration.
She used the basis of Cher's naive argument at the start of the film – that more refugees could be taken in if there was political will to do so – to make a legal case for it. Her dissertation titled “In conclusion, may I remind you, it does not say ‘RSVP’ on the Statue of Liberty”: Is the definition of the refugee provided in Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention still fit for purpose? has had friends begging to read it.
