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.
Leroy McCray is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And even though he had a full-ride Track and Field Scholarship offer from Temple, he didn't want to go to college so close to his high school. His "Welcome to Champaign" included an unfriendly roommate, racial harassment, and a militant police response to a mostly peaceful demonstration at the Illini Union. Leroy's fondest memories at the University of Illinois involved becoming a family with his fellow Project 500 and Black Student Association members.
Leslie Aulls Bryan was the Director of the Institute of Aviation at the University of Illinois from 1946 to 1968. In this interview, he discusses the Institute of Aviation, the development of the University's aeronautics program, related research, and his career in aviation.
