Christopher Jones, a graduate of the studio art MFA program and research professor in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, discusses the intersection of queer and disabled communities. He cofounded the Cripistemology and the Arts creative research lab, which serves as a gathering place for disabled students.
Kev Murphy discusses queer campus life at the University of Illinois. Kev and their roommates and friends founded GayBar, a house show venue on the Urbana side of campus, to establish a safe space for LGBTQ+ students to go out and meet each other. They hosted DJ events and community parties, like sapphic night and drag night. The venue was very popular on campus, as lines wrapped around the street and capacity was frequently reached. The venue ran as a house show from 2023 until 2025. Kev is still involved in the community and continues GayBar as a traveling queer space, partnering with Gallery Art Bar in Urbana and Amy’s Place in Champaign. Kev also talks about their experience with RSOs on campus, their interest in the house show scene, and their work as a community member.
Khalia matriculated as an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois in 2021. Originally from Chicago, IL, Khalia recounts what it was like moving to Wheaton, IL, at age seven and attending a predominantly white school as a young Black girl. Later she discusses her decision to attend the University of Illinois, the development of her political identity and personal interests, and how her identities as a revolutionary queer, Black person have shaped her community building experiences at the University and in other spaces.
L.C. arrived at the University of Illinois in 2013 as a librarian and enrolled in the PhD program for information science in 2020. In this interview, he explains what it was like growing up in Grovetown, Georgia, shares his educational journey, and discusses his placemaking experiences as a Black transmasculine student and staff member at the University of Illinois.
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.
Sreelakshmi Suresh, a graduate of the entomology Master's degree program, discusses their time at the University as a student and community builder. Suresh founded and served as president of F.U.S.E., which stands for Foraging Unity, Solidarity, and Equity for QTPOC (queer and transgender people of color). Suresh mentions that they feel they have two separate identities on campus: one as a graduate student and the other as a queer person. They wanted to create a community for queer people of color, which they felt was previously lacking, to help others who may feel isolated on campus.
To access this interview, please contact the Student Life and Culture Archives at illiarch@illinois.edu
Stephanie Skora, founder of the Campus Union for Trans Equality and Support (CUTES) discusses her experience coming out as trans during her freshman year at UIUC and the feeling of isolation she encountered due to the complete lack of spaces for trans and gender-nonconforming people on campus at that time. She emphasizes how this disorientation she experienced led her to found CUTES as a safe space for trans people to meet each other and build community. Alongside her work with CUTES, Stephanie was highly engaged in progressive student activist movements, such as Black Lives Matter, Palestinian Solidarity, and demands for Indigenous rights. Today, Stephanie lives in Chicago and works in civic education centered around voting rights, anti-racism, anti-Zionism, and trans advocacy.
To access this interview, please contact the Student Life and Culture Archives at illiarch@illinois.edu
Susan Keehn provides a view into the lived experiences of gay rights activists on the University of Illinois campus during the 1970s. Keehn first became involved in gay rights organizing through the Gay Illini: Gay People’s Alliance at the U of I at UC. Colloquially known as the Gay Illini, this organization sought the social and legal advancement of gay people in the Champaign-Urbana area, launching innumerable educational and consciousness-raising campaigns both on campus and in the greater community. Among their most well-known was the Gay Switchboard, which provided individuals with information on gay-friendly social spaces, mental and physical health resources, and emotional support. Keehn served as the co-president of the Gay Illini from 1975 to 1977 while earning her graduate degree from the university.
