This year at the University of Southern California, after one hell of a delay, a group of former students will receive their degrees... seventy years after the fact: After 70-year wait, Japanese Americans to get USC degrees.
For the first time in its history, USC will award honorary bachelor's and master's degrees to the Japanese Americans whose college careers were interrupted when they were forcibly relocated to internment camps during World War II:
At this year's Commencement ceremony, USC President C. L. Max Nikias will confer Honorary Baccalaureate and Honorary Master's degrees on Japanese-American former students who were interned during World War II.It is believed that there may be fewer than 100 Nisei alumni still living. Japanese American former students and their families who wish to participate in USC's commencement can register for an honorary degree here.
Referred to as Nisei ("second generation" in Japanese, although the term refers to first-generation Japanese-Americans), the students at USC and many other universities were forced to abandon their studies in 1942 when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of American citizens of Japanese descent and Japanese nationals living along the Pacific Coast.
"We are privileged to honor the accomplishments and the dreams of the Nisei students who are highly deserving of receiving a college degree for the work they have done at USC," said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. "Through the years these students have been among the most passionate and dedicated members of the Trojan Family. We are honored that our Nisei students have an enduring devotion to USC and we want them to know that the university is also devoted to them."