 The president of the University of Washington, Mark Emmert, presided over the event and gave a speech on the significance of this event as well as his personal perspective of the internment.Emmert was followed by several other speakers, which included Norman Mineta, Gail Nomura, and Tetsuden Kashima.A video memoir was shown prior to the "presentation of the honorary degrees" which included personal accounts of University of Washington students of the internment and its effect on their time at the university, as well as their personal opinions of "The Long Journey Home" regarding its closure to the "long journey" which the Japanese endured.