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UW College Of Law Hosts Week Of Programming Around Heart Mountain

Kunio Yamamoto facing Heart Mountain, 1944.” George and Frank C. Hirahara Photograph Collection, 1932-2016 (SC14). Courtesy Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections,Washington State University, Pullman.
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UW College of Law

Next week the University Of Wyoming College Of Law will host “Heart Mountain Week.”

In a mock trial Monday, law students will debate the draft of incarcerated Japanese Americans at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp. Throughout the rest of the week, there will be panel discussions on the experiences of people affected by Heart Mountain, executive orders, and the impacts of current immigration orders, as well as a workshop on the rights of international and undocumented students.

Suzie Pritchett is the director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Wyoming and will be moderating and participating in some of the panels. She said the College of Law hosts a historic trial every year, and Heart Mountain was initially chosen as this year’s topic because it is the 75th anniversary of the internment order.

“But because of the relevant parallels to the immigration debate currently happening today, it really went from one singular activity to this larger week that’s touching on various aspects about the immigration conversation going on in our country,” Pritchett said.

She said law students will have the opportunity to draw connections between the past and present.

“I think Heart Mountain is an interesting framework and lens to look back and think about how presidential authority has been used in the past in the name of national security, and how decisions are made in the moment that we come to later look back on differently with some time and some space,” said Pritchett.

The UW trial and panels will be also live streamed at Northwest College locations in Cody and Powell, and the Powell and Cody libraries will host talks throughout the week on Heart Mountain. The Heart Mountain Interpretive Center between Cody and Powell is also offering free admission Friday. More information on the events in Laramie and Northwest Wyoming can be found at www.uwyo.edu/law/events and www.heartmountain.org.

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