Community Briefs

Japanese internment camp survivors to speak

Survivors of the Japanese internment camps are speaking today at
UCLA as one highlight of the commemorative week for the American
internment experience.

"The Day of Remembrance is a very significant day in our
community," said USAC Student Welfare Commissioner Miho Murai, who
is Japanese American. "And I wanted it to be a very significant day
at UCLA."

The panelists, speaking in Ackerman Grand Ballroom at noon
today, include Eddy Kurushima, an internee, Reiko Nimura, a
relocatee, and Alice Nishimoto, a Peruvian internee.

"It took 42 years to get redress for the internees," Murai said
of the 120,000 Japanese Americans interned in the United States
during World War II. An additional 1,800 Japanese Peruvians
kidnapped by the U.S. government to trade with Japan for Prisoner’s
of War have yet to receive redress.

Panelist Kurushima, interned at Jerome, Arkansas will also be
displaying his art from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, in Ackerman
Ballroom.

On Wednesday, Taiko drummers will perform in Westwood Plaza at
noon as a highlight of a Japanese Cultural Celebration, running
from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The American internment victims also include 151 Aleutians, an
ethnic group from Alaska. "Untold War Story," a film showing in
Kerckhoff Art Gallery at 7 p.m. Thursday, will portray their
experiences.

Rings of controversy surround Saturn ad

UC Berkeley officials said Thursday that they are investigating
the unauthorized use of UC Berkeley’s name in a magazine
advertisement for Saturn automobiles.

The ad has drawn sharp criticism from some alumni, who believe
it tarnishes the university’s reputation. Campus officials said the
advertising company that designed the ad had promised to not use
the university’s name. In return, the agency won the right to shoot
a photograph of a Saturn car next to a campus building.

Appearing on the inside of the cover of last week’s New Yorker
magazine, the two-page ad shows business school Professor David
Aaker standing in front of a red Saturn coupe. Behind him is
Hilgard Hall, located on the north end of campus, and at his feet
sit four students dressed in khaki pants, white shirts and
pennyloafers.

"Saturn is part of the curriculum in Professor David Aaker’s
class at UC Berkeley. Go Bears!" the caption reads. Campus
officials said yesterday that the use of UC Berkeley’s name usually
requires the chancellor’s approval, which was not given in this
case.

Campus spokesperson Jesus Mena said that the university is
"looking into" the matter but offered no further details. The
university declined to name the advertising agency that produced
the ad, and Saturn could not be reached for comment. Some
university alumni have said the ad is a misuse of the campus name,
commercializing the institution.

Jim Burk, executive director of the California Alumni
Association, said that the ad did not portray the professor in a
negative light.

"It cheapens the image of the university," said Krystyna Von
Hennenberg, who completed her postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley in
1996.

The ad’s accompanying text reads: "It seems that besides coupes,
wagons and sedans, we also make one heck of a final exam. … And
now to be held up as a role model for future MBAs to study, why,
it’s quite an honor. It’s also a very good example of what happens
when you do your homework."

Aaker said that while he regrets not checking with more faculty
and alumni before appearing in the ad, he does not think it is
objectionable.

"I think that the ad is not in any way deceptive," said Aaker
earlier this week.

Aaker, who asked that the company put the university and his
name in the ad, uses the Saturn company, which is owned by General
Motors Corp., as part of a business course he teaches at the Haas
School of Business. Aaker said his class analyzes the company’s
business approach because it is innovative.

Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports