RELIEF: In the wake of the quake

Continued from page 1 gusson emphasized this importance of recognizing the already existing historical, territorial, political, social and economic tensions in the affected regions of Southwest Turkey and Northwest Syria.

Fergusson warned that people should not default to the term “natural disaster” when speakin g about the issue, because the term makes the severity of the aftermath seem unpreventable.

“The 12 years of civil war in Syria, the ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity of the population in southern Turkey and the long-running cross-border tensions exacerbated by the civil war and the massive displacement of people from Syria to Turkey…as a result, [those factors] shaped the shift from ‘hazard’ to catastrophic ‘disaster’ in the seconds, minutes, days and weeks after the earthquakes and the now over one thousand aftershocks,” Fergussen said.

Nisha Singh CM ’23, a member of the Claremont International Relations Society and Diversity and Inclusion Chair of ASCMC, invited Fergusson to lead this week’s Hot Topic event. Hot Topics are a series of political discourse events sponsored by CMC’s Keck Center for International and Strategic studies.

Singh shared that she wanted to help facilitate this event to spread more news about the severity of the earthquake and highlight the most effective ways to send aid.

“People want to help. They feel bad, but there’s some due diligence that you have to do when helping with this issue,” Singh said. “How is this aid going to get there? What organization am I supporting? What do they stand for and are they reliable?”

Singh implored students to recognize the political elements of the earthquake aftermath, including looking at the intersectionality of groups that are already marginalized in the area, such as the Kurdish community in Turkey.

“It’s not just a humanitarian issue, nothing is just apolitical, there’s always dimensions to things that need to be understood further,” she said. “I don’t think people will seek it unless, you know, you kind of bring it to the forefront”.

Fergusson acknowledged the trauma that many students with connections to the area may be experiencing. She explained the framing of the presentation required tact and sensitivity.

“I was admittedly very nervous about hosting an event like this as the tragedy and trauma of the earthquakes are still unfolding around us,” she said. “I sought to emphasize how ‘collective’ knowledge is part of ‘ethically’ engaging in an event that impacts communities in Turkey and Syria with histories of cross-border conflict.”

Melanie Kallah CM ’25 said that as a research assistant working with Fergusson in her Race and Islam lab, she understood the urgency of having a discussion and education at the 5Cs about this crisis. She attended Fergusson’s event to continue spreading awareness about this disastrous earthquake.

“The event was important to not only educate those who came on the ramifications of the earthquake and the existing socio-cultural and political conditions,” Kallah said. “But also to bring humanity back to disasters such as these and remind people that the trauma they produce doesn’t end once our awareness of the disaster ends.” and Yang assembled to assist in the selection process. The pair began their selection process by conducting a poll within the senior class.

“We had an event in Seal Court where we had people write on a board the types of people they would want to see and the traits they wanted to see in their speaker,” Yang said.

After hearing back from a few candidates, McCreary’s name rose to the top of the list. Many students believe that may have been in part because of a student’s personal relationship with the actress.

“Part of our polling process was asking people if they had a connection,” said Gupta. “We had a connection to Kelly, and we looked into her, and we saw that it aligned with what students wanted as well and then we were able to get her.”

McCreary graduated from Barnard College, another historically women’s college, which she has in common with Scripps students.

“That was something that I think also helped a lot with the process because when writing the letter we really want to focus on ‘oh, we’re also a historically women’s college,’” Yang said. “Her message and her goals aligned really well with the students of Scripps.”

Gupta and Yang felt that McCreary values spoke well to Scripps’ curriculum. At Scripps, every student takes three core classes centered around a theme during the first three semesters.

“Our Core I theme was ‘truth,’ and [McCreary] really aligned with the values and things that we learned in Core,” Yang said to TSL via email. “She is someone who practices her truth every day and amplifies the voices of people who might be too afraid to do so.”

Jaela Alvarez SC ’23 also felt optimistic about McCreary’s contribution to the commencement.

“I knew who she was, obviously, because I am a really big ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ fan, so I was pretty hyped,” Alvarez said. “I think it’s really nice that we have a Black woman [as] a speaker. That’s great representation. I think it would be an important point for her to address.”