Howard Adelman, a former professor at York University in Canada, discussed ethnic cleansing and the right of return for refugees at the Center for Forced Migration Studies’ inaugural event in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum on Wednesday night.

About 50 students, professors and community members attended the lecture, the first in a series of monthly events held to promote the center, currently part of the Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies.

Adelman discussed internally displaced refugees such as Iraqi Christians and Palestinians, who have been faced with religious persecution and civil conflict.

‘Even on a micro level, you find radical separation,’ he said. ‘The damage and consequences both to the people and principle are horrendous.’

Prof. Galya Ruffer, director of the International Studies Program and co-founder of the center, said she organized the event to share information about the magnitude of forced migration, both in the United States and abroad.

‘There’s a lot of displacement, and it intersects with a lot of things such as human rights, ethics, global health, poverty, natural disasters and the global financial crisis,’ she said. ‘People are being displaced for multiple reasons, and this is one of our main global problems in the world today.’

Ruffer said she also wanted to determine the level of interest on campus in forced migration because the program is in its initial stages.

Lana Sytnik, a fellow at the center, said the goal is to form a major or minor program in the future, but the center currently operates on a smaller scale by providing a meeting ground to discuss forced migration.

‘It’s a big issue that needs to be studied on a scholarly level,’ she said. ‘Something like this at a university level doesn’t really exist, so it’s quite innovative.’

Kalina Kassadjikova, a Weinberg freshman who attended the lecture, said she plans to work in a field related to refugees’ rights.

‘People are dying for no reason, and I don’t see how other people can end up doing something with their lives other than helping them,’ she said.

Dr. Stevan Weine, a University of Illinois at Chicago professor who works with refugees throughout the world, said he thought the lecture was intellectually compelling with serious practical policy implications.

Svetlana Sytnik, a DePaul University graduate, said she wishes a program on forced migration existed when she was in college.

‘There’s just a handful (of schools) offering such things,’ Sytnik said. ‘It’s not very widespread. It’s the only center of its kind in the Midwest.’ [email protected]

Correction: The Center for Forced Migration Studies is part of the Buffet Center for International and Comparative Studies (BCICS) not the International Studies Program.The Daily regrets the error.