A Law Dissertation Based On “Clueless” Is Going Twitter Viral

Toju Adelaja, 21, is a final-year law student at the University of Glasgow and works at a nongovernmental organization dedicated to fundraising for refugee lawyers in Greek camps. So for her final paper for school, she wrote about the topic she felt was most important to herself and her work: refugees and rom-coms.

The essay is 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 Refugee Convention Still Fit for Purpose?”

Adelaja’s dissertation focused on the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, a core legal document that defined key terms like “refugee” and “war criminal” as well as outlined the grounds for asylum.

“It agreed to the rights refugees would have and how refugee crises were to be handled,” she told BuzzFeed News. “My dissertation focused on whether these definitions are still relevant today and whether it works for today’s modern causes of forced migration.”

To emphasize that modernity, Adelaja pulled from her own love of romantic comedies. “I love rom-coms. My favorite movies are Clueless, Bridget Jones, and When Harry Met Sally,” she said. “I will watch them like I’m watching them for the first time, all the time. And I love the law, and I am going to be a lawyer. So I wanted to imbue a bit of my personality.”