Aiko “Grace” Obata Amemiya was 8 years old when she decided that 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.
On Thursday, the UC Board of Regents unanimously passed a proposal to confer honorary degrees to all of those former students.
This new honorary degree will be called “Inter Silvas Academi Restituere Iustitiam (to restore justice within the groves of academe)” and is unique in that it will be given by the University of California, rather than a specific campus, said Dr. Lawrence Pitts, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs of the UC.
The conference of these degrees required the suspension of UC Regents bylaw 29.1, which only allows each campus to give a maximum of four honorary degrees per year. It also required a suspension of the UC moratorium on honorary degrees that has been in place since 1972.
Before the vote, Pitts said that the one-time lift on this moratorium and the suspension of bylaw 29.1 does not create a precedent for giving honorary degrees in the future. He cited the fact that the recipients are people who had direct relationships with the UC.
“That academic relationship was unjustly torn asunder,” Pitts said.
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.
After the internment, Amemiya completed her nursing degree at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
“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.
The UC encourages family members to submit names of former students who were unable to receive their diplomas as a result of Executive Order 9066 via e-mail to HonoraryDegree@ucop.edu or by phone by calling 510-987-0239.