The UC to give honorary degrees to Japanese American WWII internees
By Laura Belyavski
July 16, 2009 5:46 p.m.
Aiko “Grace” Obata Amemiya was 8 years old when she decided she wanted to attend the University of California.
In 1941, Amemiya was enrolled as a nursing student at UC San Francisco and was on her way to fulfilling that goal when the United States government issued Executive Order 9066. She and her family were given seven days to evacuate their home and move to an internment camp, she said.
Amemiya, now 88, never received her UC diploma.
She was one of an estimated 700 Japanese American students who were forced to leave the UC during World War II, the majority of whom never returned to graduate, said UC Vice President for Student Affairs Judy Sakaki.
Today the UC Board of Regents unanimously passed a proposal to confer honorary degrees to all of those former students.
In the midst of an economic crisis, the regents expressed pride and honor in passing this proposal.
“I think this is a really powerful moment for the University of California,” said student regent Jesse Bernal.
Amemiya said that she and other UC students who had to leave because of internment thought that a part of their lives was not complete after leaving the UC, even if they finished their degrees elsewhere.
“In 1928, I knew I was going to be going to Cal,” Amemiya said.
Now, more than 80 years later, she is finally scheduled to receive a degree from the University of California.
