“Genocide has become a term in the last decade for anything that people who you don’t like do. You don’t like colonialism? It’s genocide. You don’t like terrorism? It’s genocide,” Professor of History Omer Bartov said in a panel discussion on modern genocide and mass atrocities Thursday night.

“That does not mean that the term is meaningless,” Bartov continued. “It means that the term is being abused. But that should not distract us from the importance of the terminology itself.”

The event in Salomon 001, which was part of Brown/RISD Hillel’s Moral Voices Initiative, explored the origins, events and aftermath of genocide in an effort to better understand why society allows genocide to occur.

In addition to Bartov, speakers included Keith Brown, professor of international studies, Stephen Kinzer, visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, and Maud Mandel, associate professor of Judaic studies....