More than 65 years ago, 42 Japanese American students who were forced to leave Oregon State University because of President Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066, ordering the "evacuation" of all citizens of Japanese ancestry from the west coast.
As we know, this was one of America's worst injustices. Most of these students ended up in internment campus, and were unable to return to OSU to compete their degrees or participate in commencement.
Today, at OSU's graduation ceremonies, the school recognized those students by presenting honorary bachelor's degrees to twenty-three of these former Oregon State students: Recognition Deserved.
About damn time. Public recognition of these individuals was long overdue. Many of these former students since have died. But several were able return to campus and many others—both living and deceased—were represented by family members during the ceremony. Here's OSU's press release: OSU to Graduate Largest Class, Honor Displaced WWII-era Students.
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