2008 Woodie Awards
Two OSU students play key roll in honorary degree bill
HB 2823, passed by the Oregon House on April 2, would give honorary degrees to Japanese Americans interned during WWII
Nick Vardanega
Issue date: 4/16/07 Section: News
When Andy Kiyuna, an OSU student in ethnic studies, began lobbying for the university to give honorary degrees to Americans of Japanese ancestry who were forced out of college and into internment camps during World War II, he had no idea his efforts would eventually lead to an Oregon House bill that would do just that.
On April 2, the Oregon House unanimously passed HB 2823, allowing degrees to be granted to Japanese Americans who were previously unable to complete their college educations when President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066, which ordered people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast to be interned in camps.
The bill states that their next-of-kin may also claim the honorary degrees.
"I honestly never saw it going this far," Kiyuna said. "I thought I'd tackle OSU and maybe somebody would pick it up on another campus somewhere."
Kiyuna admits he feels somewhat embarrassed about all the attention he has received as a result of the bill.
"It wasn't really my idea - the idea's been around for some time," he said. "I don't quite see myself as the starter for all of this. A lot of people have been helping the entire way."
The idea was first brought to Kiyuna's attention last year by Sandy Tsuneyoshi, coordinator of Asian-Pacific American education in the minority education office.
"It just really stuck in my head and was something that I wanted to do," Kiyuna said. Kiyuna is half Japanese, but none of his relatives were interned during World War II. His grandparents lived in Hawaii, where Japanese Americans were not interned, as they constituted such a large percentage of the population.
Kiyuna says he was motivated to take up the cause while he was president of the Japanese American Student Association and was screening documentaries about the internment camps for a day of remembrance.
"Seeing all these people talking about their experiences there - those were the hardest videos I'd ever had to watch in my life," Kiyuna said.
On April 2, the Oregon House unanimously passed HB 2823, allowing degrees to be granted to Japanese Americans who were previously unable to complete their college educations when President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066, which ordered people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast to be interned in camps.
The bill states that their next-of-kin may also claim the honorary degrees.
"I honestly never saw it going this far," Kiyuna said. "I thought I'd tackle OSU and maybe somebody would pick it up on another campus somewhere."
Kiyuna admits he feels somewhat embarrassed about all the attention he has received as a result of the bill.
"It wasn't really my idea - the idea's been around for some time," he said. "I don't quite see myself as the starter for all of this. A lot of people have been helping the entire way."
The idea was first brought to Kiyuna's attention last year by Sandy Tsuneyoshi, coordinator of Asian-Pacific American education in the minority education office.
"It just really stuck in my head and was something that I wanted to do," Kiyuna said. Kiyuna is half Japanese, but none of his relatives were interned during World War II. His grandparents lived in Hawaii, where Japanese Americans were not interned, as they constituted such a large percentage of the population.
Kiyuna says he was motivated to take up the cause while he was president of the Japanese American Student Association and was screening documentaries about the internment camps for a day of remembrance.
"Seeing all these people talking about their experiences there - those were the hardest videos I'd ever had to watch in my life," Kiyuna said.
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