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Nisei Diploma Project at MJC

MJC is searching for  Japanese-American students from 1942

Modesto Junior College is continuing to seek former MJC students of Japanese American descent whose studies were forcibly suspended in 1942 when Executive Order 9066 was issued and would like to award them with honorary degrees.  These efforts are part of the California Nisei College Diploma Project, an initiative that seeks to award honorary degrees to all those who were forced out of institutions of higher learning and into internment camps by Executive Order 9066, which was issued in 1942 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

MJC has compiled a list of 40 names of students with Japanese surnames that were attending the college during 1940 - 1942.  It is estimated that at least 28 of these students were studying at MJC when the order was signed into law in 1942. MJC recognized two of these students during the college’s Commencement Ceremony on April 30, 2010, and continues to seek information on our other former Nisei students to honor them as well.

MJC also held a Nisei Project Symposium on  April 20. This free public event included a photo display and reception  in the MJC Art Gallery followed by a panel of presenters in the Student Lounge.  Three Japanese Americans who experienced the internment discussed the history and impact of EO 9066 and the internment.

The California Nisei College Diploma Project is the implementation of AB 37, a bill introduced by Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach) and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 11, 2009. The bill requests that California Community Colleges, the University of California and the California State University systems confer an honorary degree upon each individual whose studies were disrupted by Executive Order 9066 and allow a representative to accept the honorary degree on behalf of individuals who are deceased.

“Nisei” is a Japanese word that refers to second generation Japanese Americans and according to the California Nisei Diploma Project, more than 2,500 Japanese American students were affected by the EO 9066. It is estimated that more than 1,200 of the affected Nisei were community college students.

"We look forward to the opportunity to recognize as many of our former Japanese American students as possible," said Dr. Bob Nadell, MJC Vice President of Student Services. "A great injustice was done to these students and their families and we are excited about this chance to acknowledge this.  By presenting them with honorary degrees we hope to make-up, in a small way, for the unfairness and discrimination they suffered.

To help facilitate its search, Modesto Junior College has launched this website, along with a form for submitting information about Nisei students. If you are a Japanese American student that attended MJC in 1942, or if you are the family member of one of these students, please click here to download an application for an Nisei Honorary Degree . 

For more information, or to help the college identify and locate former Japanese American students from 1942, contact Martha Robles, MJC Dean of Matriculation, Admissions & Records at (209) 575-6740 or roblesm@mjc.edu.