u.c. regents to vote on honorary degree for interned students

This Thursday, the University of California Board of Regents will in vote in open session on whether or not to recognize and present a special degree for students who were forced to leave their studies as a result of Executive Order 9066, which unjustly sent thousands of Japanese American citizens to interment camps during World War II. Here's an excerpt from the action item:

CONFERRING OF HONORARY DEGREES AND SUSPENSION OF BYLAW 29.1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In September 2008, the Academic Senate and the Vice President for Student Affairs jointly charged a special task force to consider how the University of California might recognize its students whose educations were interrupted by Executive Order 9066. That task force completed its work in March 2009, and has recommended to the administration and the Academic Senate that the University of California award a special honorary degree to students enrolled in the University in 1941-1942 who were unable to complete their degree because of Executive Order 9066. The Academic Senate unanimously adopted the recommendations at the meetings of the Academic Council on April 29, and the Assembly of the Academic Senate on June 17, 2009.

In spring 1942, approximately 700 University of California students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs at the Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Davis campuses, were ordered to be removed from the coastal zones of California as a result of Executive Order 9066, which led to the confinement of persons of Japanese descent in internment camps. Although some of those students eventually completed their studies and earned degrees at the University, the majority did not. Executive Order 9066 also resulted in over 400 students being removed from the University of Washington and over 40 students being removed from the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. In spring 2008, the universities of Washington and Oregon awarded honorary degrees to their students affected by Executive Order 9066.

Regents Bylaw 29.1 permits the President to recommend to the Board, after consultation with the Academic Senate, that an honorary degree be awarded. Under Bylaw 29.1, three quarters of the members of the Board present at the meeting following the meeting at which the President makes the recommendation typically are required to approve the proposed honorary degree. Bylaw 29.1(c) limits the total number of honorary degrees that may be awarded at one campus to four in a single year. The Policy on the Awarding of Honorary Degrees sustains a moratorium on the award of honorary degrees which has been in place since 1972, first as a prerogative of the President and later as the policy of the Board adopted in 1986.

RECOMMENDATION

The President recommends that the Committee on Educational Policy recommend to the Regents that a special class of honorary degrees be awarded to students prevented from completing their University of California degrees as a result of Executive Order 9066 pursuant to regulations adopted by the Assembly of the Academic Senate on June 17, 2009.

The President recommends further that the Committee on Educational Policy recommend to the Regents that the Board, on a one-time basis justified by unique circumstances, temporarily suspend Bylaw 29.1 (Honorary Degrees) and the Policy on the Awarding of Honorary Degrees pursuant to Bylaw 7.3 to permit the award of a special honorary degree to these students.

As it says, in the spring of 1942, approximately 700 Japanese American students enrolled in graduate and undergraduate programs at Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Davis were forced to interrupt their studies as a result of Executive Order 9066.

Last year the universities of Washington and Oregon awarded honorary degrees to students affected by the internment. Isn't it about time the University of California did the same? To read the complete Regents' item, download the PDF here.