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Albrecht gets his own copy of Connections summer book,
'When the Emperor Was Divine'
February 26, 2005 | USU President
Stan Albrecht will join next fall's incoming freshmen
in reading about a controversial chapter in American
and Utah history.
On Wednesday, past participants in Utah State's Connections
academic orientation program, along with Connections
coordinator Noelle Call, presented Albrecht with a copy
of the 2005 Summer Literature Experience book selection,
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka.
The book is a fictional account of on a family's experience
in Utah's Topaz internment camp during World War II.
"The Connections course is designed to ease incoming
students' transition to the university and prepare them
for their academic experience," said Call, director
of Utah State's Academic Resource Center. "The
common 'Summer Literature Experience' is part of the
course and provides freshmen with shared intellectual
experience to introduce them to life on campus."
The book was presented to Albrecht the same day that
in 1983 a Congressional Commission released a report
condemning the internment of Japanese-Americans in World
War II as a grave injustice.
Students Ben Toney, a freshman majoring in biology,
and Kaitlin Neville, a freshman majoring in engineering,
talked about their experience with last year's book,
Hope in the Unseen. Both spoke enthusiastically
about how they got to meet the main character in the
novel and about their experiences in the Connections
program.
This year readers will have the opportunity to meet
the author of the novel about Utah's Topaz internment
camp.
"We encourage individuals and book clubs in the
community to read this book with us," said Christie
Fox, head of the Connections 2005 literature selection
committee.
"The Japanese-American internment is a painful
page in American history and can be construed as blatant
racism," said Utah State reading and learning specialist
Wendy Beck. "While there is truth to that point
of view, many liberals in the Roosevelt administration
genuinely believed what they were doing would ultimately
benefit Japanese-Americans. That makes the story more
complicated."
Otsuka is scheduled to speak to Connections participants
at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 27 in the Kent Concert Hall. All are
invited to attend.
"It is part of the university's mission
to help students develop intellectually, personally
and culturally so they may serve the people of Utah,
the nation and the world," Call said.
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