In recent weeks, more California colleges and universities bestowed honorary degrees on former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II. Read the rest of this entry »
Several campuses in the California State University system along with a number of California Community Colleges held commencement ceremonies recently in which former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II received honorary degrees. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a story from UCLA Today, UCLA’s faculty and staff newsletter. It is reprinted here with permission. Original story: Bruins Return 70 Years Later To Receive Honorary Degrees.
by Wendy Soderburg
48 of the 200 former Japanese American students (or their representatives) who were forced to leave UCLA due to their forced relocation and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II
received honorary degrees in a May 15, 2010
ceremony at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.
Photo: Todd Cheney/UCLA Photo
The curtain rose, revealing a group of degree candidates seated on the stage, clad in cap and gown. Joyful cheers burst forth from the packed house, followed by a long and enthusiastic standing ovation. The degree candidates smiled, and a few wiped away tears, as the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” filled the hall.
Although all the traditional elements were there, this May 15 event was not your usual commencement ceremony, nor was this your usual group of soon-to-be graduates. These were 48 of the nearly 200 Japanese American former students—or, in some cases, their representatives—who had been forced to leave UCLA and enter internment camps when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in the winter of 1942. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo: Darrell Kunitomi
Approximately 200 students were forced to leave the campus not long after the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a press release from the California State University system.
LONG BEACH, CA — Do you know of a Japanese American student who was removed from a California State University campus in 1941-42 and incarcerated in a camp?
Six California State University campuses are searching for 250 Japanese American students who were forcibly removed from CSU campuses during World War II and relocated to prison camps, interrupting their academic careers.
The CSU campuses plan to award these Nisei students Special Honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters degrees as part of the CSU’s Nisei Honorary Degree Project. The CSU project is a result of Assembly Member Warren Furutani’s bill, Assembly Bill 37, which called upon the CSU, University of California and the community colleges to award the degrees. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a press release from the UCLA Newsroom. Original story: UCLA Seeks Japanese American Students Whose Education Was Interrupted during World War II.
By Claudia Luther, UCLA Newsroom
February 17, 2010
To download a printable flyer detailing UCLA’s honorary degree program, click on the image above.
Some of the former students, most now in their 80s and 90s, are expected to attend the ceremony, and family members will receive diplomas on behalf of others who are unable to attend. Still others will receive diplomas by mail. Many former students are deceased.
Approximately 700 University of California students were affected by the World War II directive, more than 200 of whom attended UCLA. The UC Board of Regents voted last July to suspend its moratorium on honorary degrees in order to recognize the students forced from UC classrooms. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is from the University of California, Berkeley NewsCenter. It is reprinted here with permission.
By Cathy Cockrell, University of California, Berkeley NewsCenter
December 16, 2009
Yukio Kawamoto celebrates his
freshly minted UC Berkeley diploma.
Photo: Cathy Cockrell/UC Berkeley NewsCenter
In a special ceremony during the traditional December convocation on Sunday, December 13, 2009, the elderly Japanese Americans accepted their honorary diplomas. Mounting the stage in Haas Pavilion’s cavernous basketball arena, some with the help of canes, they sat in two long rows of chairs, wearing mortar boards, gowns, and blue-and-gold leis of origami cranes fashioned by local school children.
For 78 additional Japanese Americans now deceased or too infirm to attend, family members accepted diplomas in their honor.
“I’m just glad to see my Grandma and my Dad be able to be represented in graduating, after what happened. I’m happy,” declared twelve-year-old Nathan Tokuno at an honorary luncheon preceding the formal ceremony. Read the rest of this entry »
The following was excerpted from press releases issued by the California State University system.
California State University System To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Internees: Seeking Former Students Who May Be Eligible
LONG BEACH, CA — The California State University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to grant honorary bachelor’s degrees to Japanese Americans who were enrolled at CSU campuses and forced to internment camps during World War II.
The first degree was awarded September 23, 2009, to Aiko Nishi Uwate, a Japanese American woman who was removed from San Francisco State University and sent to the Gila River concentration camp in Arizona. The posthumous degree was accepted by Uwate’s daughter, Vivian Uwate Nelson, a resident of Los Angeles County. Read the rest of this entry »
The following is a press release from the California Community Colleges.
January 11, 2010
Contact: Paige Marlatt Dorr
Office: (916) 327-5356
Cell: (916) 601-8005
Office E-mail: pdorr@cccco.edu
BlackBerry: pmarlatt@comcast.net
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES TO HONOR FORMER STUDENTS IMPRISONED DURING WORLD WAR II: Search Underway For Those Who May Be Eligible
SACRAMENTO, CA — After nearly 70 years, many former California Community College students who were unable to complete their studies due to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II will finally be honored. As part of the California Nisei College Diploma Project, the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges are undergoing massive efforts to locate these individuals and bestow them with a degree. Read the rest of this entry »
Video clips from the 36th and 37th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimages (2005 and 2006) are now available on our YouTube channel. Two selected clips are highlighted below, but head on over to YouTube to watch all of the video clips. Read the rest of this entry »
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