Sunday, December 13, 2009
Acknowledging a wrong committed at the outbreak of World War II that cost hundreds of Americans their college education, the University of California system has awarded honorary degrees this month to Japanese-Americans who were forcefully relocated by the U.S. government. Approximately 700 UC students were put into internment camps in 1942 as a result of Executive Order 9066, which required all Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast to move out of fear they might help Japan in its war against the United States.
Following a decree passed in the spring by the California Legislature, UC officials arranged for special ceremonies this month at UC campuses in Berkeley, Davis, San Francisco and Los Angeles to award honorary degrees to camp survivors or their relatives. The decision follows a similar act by the University of Oregon, which last year presented honorary degrees to 20 Japanese-Americans.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Making Amends for a Life Interrupted (by Rebecca Woolington, Eugene Register-Guard)
Honored: Degrees Awarded to Those Interned in WWII (by Robin Hindery, UCSF Today)
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