A visit from Alumna Fellow Clare Gillis '94

On Friday, February 12, Hopkins was proud to welcome Clare Morgana Gillis ’94 back to campus as an Alumna Fellow. Clare, an independent foreign correspondent, has written about the Arab Spring, war and civil unrest in the Middle East. She made national headlines when she was detained for six weeks by the Libyan government in 2011.

Clare began the day by addressing the school at assembly, where she talked about her career path after Hopkins. Her passion for history, writing and travel led her to Egypt in early 2011, just as protesters took to the streets of Cairo calling for the ousting of then President Hosni Mubarak. Clare said seeing the passion of the people in uprising firsthand was life-changing, as if the world had blossomed before her eyes, and she found herself in a position to report on these world events. Looking back now, she said it is hard to remember the hopefulness that she saw at that time, given the violence and shift in power in the Middle East since then. From Egypt, Clare traveled to Libya just as civil war was breaking out, and she found herself as an unlikely war correspondent. She shared that one day she and her colleagues, including former journalist and videographer James Foley, set out to find the front line, and were captured and detained by the Qaddafi government for six weeks (read her account of her Libyan detention below). Several Hopkins alumni, including Harold Koh ’71 and Aaron Zelinsky ’02, were integral in helping to free Clare and her colleagues. After being released from Libya, Clare continued to report on the Middle East, covering war, civil unrest and human rights abuses in Syria, Egypt and Mali.

Following her address, Clare took questions from students, who asked questions ranging from international politics to her plans to write a book. Please see video of her address and the Q&A in the attached videos.

Throughout the rest of the morning, Clare attended classes, even facilitating sections of “Islam & the Middle East.” She also sat with students in the cafe for a Q & A session and attended a luncheon with seniors and faculty. In response to one of many questions by students, Clare explained that she decided to stop reporting on extremist groups such as ISIS, because any mention of it in the media is ultimately distorted by the ISIS propaganda machine to aid in recruitment and the perpetration of violence. After losing her friend James Foley, who was killed by ISIS in 2014, ending her reporting on this extremist group was the one thing she had in her power to do.

We thank Clare for sharing so much of her story and knowledge with us on Friday.

After graduating from Hopkins in 1994, Clare attended the University of Chicago where she earned a BA in English Language and Literature. She attended the University of Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar and received there Ph.D. in Medieval European History from Harvard in 2010. Clare is currently a guest lecturer at Dartmouth College.

View more photos of Clare's visit here:
More Photos

To learn more about Clare Gillis, please visit the links below.

The Atlantic: Clare Gillis Recounts Detention in Libya