Cal Poly’s Kennedy Library Highlights Japanese-American Students in Exhibition

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly’s Robert E. Kennedy Library will host an exhibition highlighting Cal Poly Japanese-American students who were unable to complete their college education because of forced relocation and internment during World War II.

The exhibit, “Nisei Diploma Project: Stories from California Polytechnic State University,” will run June 8 through July 5 during regular library hours in the library’s first floor gallery. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Anna Gold, associate dean of Library Services, said the Library is excited to help honor the students, who will receive honorary degrees from Cal Poly. “We have some wonderful photographs in University Archives that help us share these students’ stories with our campus and local community,” Gold said.

The exhibit is presented in collaboration with Cal Poly’s Nisei Degree Program, which honors alumni forced to leave Cal Poly and report to “Relocation Centers” under Federal Executive Order 9066.

The university has identified approximately 30 former students who are eligible to receive an honorary bachelor’s degree during a special commencement ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, June 7. President Warren J. Baker will confer the degrees.

The effort is part of the California State University System Nisei Project, which began last September when the CSU Board of Trustees unanimously voted to award Special Honorary Bachelor of Humane Letters degrees to CSU students of Japanese ancestry whose college educations were disrupted by forced internment.

For more information about the CSU Nisei Diploma Project, visit http://www.calstate.edu/Nisei. For more information on the library exhibit, visit the Kennedy Library website or e-mail Catherine Trujillo at ctrujill@calpoly.edu.

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