Laura Haber · Voices of Illinois · University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library

Title: Laura Haber
Date(s): 04/10/2026
Interviewee(s): Laura Haber See all items with this value
Interviewer(s): Jenny Lin See all items with this value
Interviewer Position: Student in GWS 467: Locating Queer Culture.
Summary: To access this interview, please contact the Student Life and Culture Archives at illiarch@illinois.edu

Chicago native Laura Haber spent more than 40 years in Champaign-Urbana. She first arrived as a political science undergraduate in 1985, continued through graduate school, and later worked with the Unit One program at Allen Hall for more than two decades. Known on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus as a “queer dorm” and important hub for the campus queer culture, Allen Hall has long supported LGBTQ students and progressive activism through its distinctive living learning community, Unit One. This oral history interview explores how queer culture and student activism became intertwined in the development of Allen Hall’s unique community. Haber reflects on her student life in the 1980s, her role in building programs such as the Guest-in-Residence initiative, the expansion of all-gender housing, and her memories of working with students over many years.
Language: English
Subject(s): activism See all items with this value; allen hall See all items with this value; community building See all items with this value; housing See all items with this value; queer students See all items with this value; student life See all items with this value; unit one See all items with this value
Related Resources: Allen Hall and Unit One Oral History Collection; Social Movements at Illinois: LGBTQ+ Rights; Unit One/Allen Hall Publications (RS: 37/6/844)

Item sets: Locating Queer Culture