Oral History Program Kimberly Baker Interviewed by Lorrie Rands 17 January 2025 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Kimberly Baker Interviewed by Lorrie Rands 17 January 2025 Copyright © 2025 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description Connecting Weber: History of the Cultural Centers oral history project documents the memories and history of the various cultural centers that were open at Weber State University. These centers included the Multicultural Center (later called the Center for Belonging & Cultural Engagement), Women's Center, Native American Cultural Center, Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Center, Pan-Asian Cultural Center, Black Cultural Center, and the LGBTQ Resource Center. The centers were closed in July 2024 due to state legislation. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Baker, Kimberly, an oral history by Lorrie Rands, 17 January 2025, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Kimberly Baker conducted on January 17, 2025 by Lorrie Rands over Zoom. Baker discusses how she came to Weber and her experiences and responsibilities after she became the LGBTQ+ Student Senator, as well as the closing of the cultural centers from that perspective. Raegan Baird and Emma Kirby are also on the call. Note: Active listening, transitions in dialogue (such as “um,” “so,” “you know,” etc.), and false starts in conversations are not included in transcription for ease of reading. All additions to transcript noted with brackets. LR: Today is January 17, 2025. We are in a Zoom call with Kimberly Baker doing an oral history interview for the Connecting Weber closing of the culture centers that happened last year. So, that being said, again, I just want to thank you for your willingness, and if I ask a question that you're not comfortable with and don't want to answer, just let me know and we'll just move on. It's not a big deal. Jumping right in, when and where were you born? KB: I was born in Orlando, Florida in 2002. There's really not much else to it. Just kind of where my family's from. LR: So, were you raised in Florida? KB: Until I was 12, yeah. The summer I turned 12 we moved up here. There's a huge Swift terminal in West Valley. Swift is a trucking company that my stepdad worked for. The other terminal is in Tennessee. Due to some, like, interpersonal conflict, my mom didn't want to move to the state where my dad lived. So, they moved out here. 1 LR: Okay. So, you were in Florida till you were 12. What are some of your memories of growing up when living in Florida? KB: God. I mean, I have a lot of memories. I don't know how to narrow it down to one or two. One that always took people aback was when I would mention Cracker Fest, which is—there's context to it. My family is like old Florida stock. We're from the Florida, Georgia area. We've been there since like as soon as anybody could be. Most of my ancestors came to America in 1696, with the exception of one set of German-Jewish immigrants in the late 1890s, and they ended up mostly in the Georgia and Florida area. When you're like a poor cattle farmer in that area, you tend to fall into this class, what they called back then, Florida crackers or Georgia crackers. It's not the same thing as the word for somebody who would crack a whip on a plantation. They are different words describing kind of similar kinds of people, but one is a class of poor white farmers and the other is not that. So, Cracker Fest is this thing that happens every year, and then there's also Cracker Christmas. We would go to that when I was a kid because we have this—out in Christmas, Florida, which is this fort that was erected during the second Seminole War, I believe. We have a bunch of our family stuff up in the museum there. So, we would go there for Cracker Fest or Cracker Christmas and, you know, just have a little time. LR: Is that a yearly thing? 2 KB: Yeah, kind of. We stopped going, I think, in like 2009 or 2010, so I wouldn't know. But as far as I know, it's still going. I check the website every once in a while just to see. LR: Talk about going to school, your elementary years in Florida and just what that was like. KB: Yeah, for sure. We mostly lived in like UCF territory. There were two different points of religion, two different apartments or townhouses on a like frat and sorority row. So, I grew up around like, you know, these streets were like a chunk of it would be for families, and then surrounding it would be people who are my age now. They would have been back then, which it was a lot of weird kind of fun. The guys in the frats were always really nice. They would do like an Easter thing for the kids in the neighborhood every year. So, that was pretty cool. We didn't have a car for when I was in a lot of elementary school, so we would walk from where we lived to the elementary school. I went to Riverdale Elementary and, you know, that was kind of what we did. I was in like, gifted and talented programs when I was a kid. We went to math competitions with my grandmother. She was a math teacher. Yeah, it was kind of a lot of academics and a lot of church. That was really kind of it. LR: Okay. You mentioned UCF. What does that stand for? KB: UCF is the University of Central Florida. LR: Thank you. I appreciate that. KB: Of course. LR: So, you grew up in a college town? 3 KB: Yeah. My stepdad did security for them at one point. We used to like, look for coke caps on the campus in the trash cans. LR: Okay. That's fun. KB: Yeah. I spent a lot of time in dumpsters as a kid, and I'll admit that freely. LR: When you moved to Utah, what were some of the differences culturally and just… I can't think of the other word right now. What were some of the differences when you moved to Utah? KB: I think they kind of become a little obvious when you compare the demographics of each given place. When I was in Orlando, the schools I went to were like white minority. So, I was like one of maybe three or four white kids in any given class. Also, my sister and I were the only LDS students at our school. We kind of fell in with the more religious students, which was kind of funny because they all ended up being very into like anime and emo music, like as much as you could be being 11 or 12 in central Florida in the early 2010s. That's kind of what it was like there, and then we moved here and, you know, we moved to Springville, which back then was like, I want to say 93% LDS and well over 80% white. So, it was just this huge shock of like, “Wow. This is not only weird, but everybody looks like me. Everybody goes to church on Sunday. Everybody is weirdly less”—forgive me for being crass, but less anal about the rules of the religion. I don't particularly go anymore, but it was such a big part of my life back then that it was hard not to notice. I mean, it was kind of a big thing. LR: How was it integrating into going to school in Springfield compared to what you were accustomed to in Orlando? 4 KB: We kind of had to just jump right in. There were issues with our records transferring over. My brother was able to go to the elementary school just fine, ‘cause that was another thing is that the school system is set up differently here. It's K through six instead of K through five. So, he was able to go to school just fine. They didn't require much from him, but there was some issue with my sister and I's records getting transferred from our old middle school to the junior high school we were going to go to. Part of it involved my stepdads like sex marker on our official records being changed from male to female somewhere in the transfer over, so they wouldn't let us register because he was accidently registered female. We started like two or three weeks into the school year and, you know, it was kind of just you had to jump right in. You didn't really get time to adjust. I think our first day of the high honors math class we were in was a test day. We didn't have time to study for it and my sister and I both failed, and the woman wanted to kick us out. So, it was kind of just get in there and do it. LR: Well, obviously things got straightened out and figured out. KB: Yeah. LR: Did things start to get a little bit easier after that? KB: Yeah. I want to say by at least the middle of the term or semester, I forget the word for it because I don't go to junior high anymore. I'm a full-grown adult. But like by the end of that academic block, both of us had friends, both of us were well involved in what we wanted to be involved in. You know, things like band. There was a quote-unquote “emo corner” that we both fell into because we had 5 different friends within it. So, we got established pretty quickly, and that stayed consistent through the end of high school. LR: Okay. So, what was your family dynamic like? KB: Complicated, fraught, high tension. You know. LR: I'm speaking more about just where you fall in your family, not necessarily relationships. KB: Yeah. LR: I don't want you to, you know, feel too uncomfortable. KB: Could you clarify a little more? I don't want to answer incorrectly. LR: Right. I'm just specifically thinking about like, how large, where you fall in your family, are you the oldest, are you the youngest, that sort of thing. Am I making sense? KB: Yes. There were two divergent paths in my mind, and that was one of them. My family is pretty big. I have, just within the like family that I lived with, I had four siblings. There were three of us in like this older group, and then two in the younger group. McKayla and I were both kind of the oldest daughter because, you know, due to custody exchanges and stuff, she spent some time with her mom or I would spend some time with my dad, and we would both have to fall in and out of those roles. We're nine months apart; it's not like it's unheard of. I'm technically the second oldest there, and then the oldest of my other sisters at my dad's house. LR: Okay, thank you. KB: Yeah, for sure. 6 LR: So, I'm kind of wondering, you know, your experiences transferring from Orlando to Springville, and then the makeup of your family. How did that, looking back, play a role in what you would choose to do as you got older? KB: It's a good question. I do know that pursuing, like, crime scene investigation and forensics was both from a genuine love of science and the law and from trying to follow family traditions without necessarily going into the military or policing. My dad’s side of the family is all military men. They always have been, have been since Boston. You know, it's been a long time. I didn't want to end the tradition, but I don't want to be a cop. So, that was that. You know, I grew up in Orlando. My grandma, my memaw is a like Floridian Democrat. Which is, you know, it's a whole thing. So, there is at least like a base level of “Be tolerant and accept other people for who and what they are.” Combined with my cousin—my second cousin, my mom's cousin—being like this role model of like genuinely accepting for your queer identity and, you know, sort of paving the way for me within the family to be a little more brash and bold about it, I don't think it's particularly odd that I went in the directions I did. LR: Were you encouraged to receive a higher education growing up? KB: Yes. Yes, I was. LR: So, first of all, where did you go to high school? KB: I went to Springville High School in Springville, Utah. LR: A relatively small school? KB: It was big to me, but it was smaller than the school I would have gone to. LR: Okay. What were your plans after graduating from high school? 7 KB: Honestly, straight into college. I didn't have many plans. I'm not the greatest planning for the future. LR: Did you have a college that you wanted to go to, or did you have a place picked out? KB: I knew that I wanted to go to somewhere in state for residency reasons. I kind of honestly wanted to go to Weber. I knew of the programs I had available to me in the state. UVU was a little too close to home, so I kept it as a backup. I didn't want to go to BYU, and I honestly really liked the idea of the program that we have here for forensics and CSI, which was a big factor in me coming here. LR: Okay. What year did you start here? KB: 2020. LR: Oh, I'm sorry. That's a whole thing. So, your first semester in college, was it spring or fall? KB: It was fall. LR: Okay, so you had no choice but to do online. KB: Some of my classes were in person. Most of them were online. LR: Okay, that's interesting. KB: It was because of the program I'm in. Or I was in, I'm not in anymore. Obviously I graduated. A lot of it has to be done hands-on or you have to go in and learn. So, for that first year it was either you do this online or you go in to do public speaking in person, or you, you know, you listen to a lecture online, do your labs online, or you go and do your labs in person. Like, you can do general science and anatomy labs online. You can't do, like, hands-on fingerprinting stuff. 8 LR: That’s fair. What are some of the protocols that you had to follow that first semester? KB: I mean, kind of just the basics. Masking, distancing, don't accidentally spit on people. LR: Fair enough. I know that by the fall, there was an expectation that things were going to go back to normal. But what was that for you going into your first semester of college, knowing that you're under this pandemic? What were some of your feelings surrounding that? KB: I honestly don't know that I had many worried feelings about it. A lot of my concern about the pandemic was like, you know, I have a lot of asthmatics in my family, and I didn't want them to get sick because that would be horrific. When my mom did eventually get COVID years later, it was not great. So, you know, it's just a lot of, let's stay inside. Like even after I was here, I was living on campus, it was a lot of “Let's stay inside and not interact with people too much until we know it's a little safer to do so.” LR: Were you able to live on campus that first semester? KB: Yes. LR: Really? KB: Yeah. I shared a room with a girl from somewhere in the Midwest, I want to say. I think it was Missouri. LR: Okay. That's awesome. I mean, my timeline is very fuzzy. I can't remember when they allowed people back on campus and then to the dorms again. Obviously for 9 the fall of 2020, they did. That first semester, did you get involved in any programs on campus, or was there anything that you were involved in? KB: Not really. I think I went to a couple dorm activities put together by the RAs, but I don't know that I got involved with things until at least after the end of the fall semester. My actual timeline on things is a little fuzzy. I didn't know how to get involved with stuff, so I just kind of stuck to myself. LR: Okay. Were you aware of any of the cultural centers on campus? KB: I'm not sure. I passed by them, but I'm not sure that I ever like went in them. I do know that by either like sometime in my second semester or in my second year, I started volunteering up at the Women's Center, so I did most of my like interaction stuff there starting around that time. LR: Okay. How did you get involved in volunteering at the Women's Center? KB: I honestly can't remember. I think I just needed to volunteer for stuff, and I was like, “Yeah, okay, I'll come up here. I'll help make buttons. I'll help paint things for like Believe Survivors Day and make signs for Take Back the Night.” I helped set up a couple finals-related activities that they would do, their Self-Care Affair they would put on. From there, I separately got involved with the GSA, but then I got involved with that, and then that pulled me into getting involved with the LGBT Resource Center when it got back up and running again. LR: When did you decide to get involved in the Senate? KB: That was the summer of… What year is it now? It's 20—the summer of 2023. I had been sort of—I'm trying to find the word, sorry. There weren't a lot of people to fill leadership roles in the GSA. So, I ended up switching from being the 10 secretary to being the vice president. In that, I started interacting with Kit Byrd a lot more because, you know, we were working together on that. She sent out this like, announcement or request being like, “Hey, we need somebody to fill this position on the Senate. If you guys are interested in applying, please apply.” I didn't apply for I want to say a couple weeks, and then I checked back in and was like, “Hey, did anybody ever apply for this?” She said, “No, nobody did.” So, I went ahead and did it, because somebody kind of had to do it. I very obviously was accepted, and it was all well and good. I got sworn in like sometime in the first or second week of school and went from there. LR: So, you didn't have to run for office or anything? It was just filling a position? KB: Yeah. So, what happens in student elections is, first of all, there's not a lot of interest in student elections, there's not a lot of interest in running. I know this now because I helped run the elections this last year. There's not a lot of interest in running, and there's especially not a lot of interest in running for non-executive positions, for running for those legislative positions. So, you'll get a couple people running for things like the College of Science's senator. There was a big race for that one this last year. You'll get people running for, you know, certain groups, and if they missed the actual date to get their names on the ballot, they can do a write-in campaign. That's all well and good, but there are a lot of positions that just don't get filled. So, whatever executive vice president is elected has to go in after they do all of their contract signing and all of that, and they have to go in and appoint 11 people to those positions. Having an application process sort of alleviates the strain of that, because it gives you a pool of people to choose from for things like interviews and, you know, those final appointments. LR: I had no idea. So, the position that you were filled for, how long had it been an open position in the Senate? Do you know? KB: I would have to actually check my notes. I took a lot of notes on it. I want to say 2021. It was one of the newer ones. I checked through a bunch of old files because I was looking for something else, and I found the, like, I want to say resolution or bill, like the actual legislative document that created the position, as opposed to a different legislative document that changed the name of the African Diaspora Senator. It had previously been, I think, the African-American Student Senator, which they changed. LR: Okay. That’s interesting. KB: I don't know. That doesn't… LR: That doesn’t…? KB: Sometimes I just start saying things, you know? LR: Okay. No, it all made sense to me. KB: Okay. LR: I'm finding it fascinating that you have these positions in the Senate that don't get filled. No one runs for them, and the person who ends up filling them is the… Is it the president or vice president of the Senate? 12 KB: So, it's the executive vice president. They are the chair of the Senate. They're essentially a non-voting—except for in emergencies—member of the Senate, and instead a member of the executive branch under the student body president. LR: Okay. I'm learning a lot. That's awesome. So, this position that you filled, what were some of the duties that you had in that position? KB: Aside from attending meetings, making sure that I was aware of what we had to do and vote on. I had to interact with my constituency a lot, which was easy because I was already going to the GSA meetings. Being that specific student senator was a bit of a pinch because I didn't want to like out anybody, you know? It's Utah. I don't want to put anybody in any danger, but I wanted to also make sure that they knew that I could be that specific voice and advocate for them in that specific chamber. So, it was a lot of interacting with the constituency, a lot of like cross interest with what I was already doing in other forms of volunteering. I also had to serve on committees. I signed up for what was supposed to be a Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee that never got off the ground. I was a representative to the Student Fee Recommendation Committee, which was something I signed up for, it's not a duty of every senator. I was a part of the Internal Affairs Committee, so I was in charge of like introducing and drafting legislation, especially in bigger forms. We were supposed to do like a huge overhaul of both the Constitution and the Bylaws—the Student Constitution and Bylaws, not the American Constitution. That would be wild. So, we spent most of the fall semester working on the Constitution. I want to say we passed it sometime in mid-January so we could get 13 it on the ballot, then forgot to get it on the ballot and had to do a special election about it. It was a lot of drafting, legislation, and making sure that I knew I was up to date on things. Then I was the legislative co-chair of the Elections Committee, so I kept track of everything we were doing, made rulings, made recommendations for changes to our elections rules. It was kind of a lot of legislation. LR: Okay. The first committee that you mentioned, the diversity, equity, and inclusion, what were some of the things that you would do with that committee? KB: We never actually got started. We were told to sign up for committees, and that one didn't have nearly as many senators signed up for it as it needed. I was more than interested in being a part of it, but we never got started in talking about what we needed to talk about. We never got any dates set up or anything. LR: Okay. Fast forwarding a little bit, did you graduate in the spring of ‘24? KB: Yes. LR: So, when you were graduating, hearing about this new law that has been put into place, House Bill 261, did you have any idea what that might do, or were you told about some of the things that might happen because of it? KB: Yeah. I think because the position I was in working with members of the executive branch and being the LGBTQ+ Student Senator, I heard a lot about what could potentially happen, but no official decisions were made until well into the summer. LR: So, were you able to be a part of any of those decision-making meetings? 14 KB: Decision making, no, but I was able to do things like make recommendations. Jessica Oyler put together a little discussion and open house thing at the very end of the semester, and I attended that and at least took notes so other people were aware of what was going on with recommendations, things like that. LR: When you heard that the culture centers were closing and that your position within the Senate was going away, what were some of your feelings surrounding that? KB: Well, to be honest, I didn't even know that the senator positions were going away until I heard it from one of the incoming senators. Whoever was or is serving as the disability senator right now came to me, it was like, “Hey, did you hear about this?” I had not heard about it because I wasn't as plugged in as I used to be. It was a lot of, you know, frustration, mostly with like just the situation in general, because I could see ways that we could keep things the way that they were without getting rid of them. I suppose that's eventually what happened, but there was a lot of fear on the students’ ends that they wouldn't be able to do the things they wanted to do or had been elected to do or appointed to do. Which, you know, when people you know and care about are afraid, that's—it’s not frightening for me, but it is like, “Okay, let's try to problem solve this. Oh, there's a wall in front of the solution? Dang.” That sort of situation. It's not an emotion, but it's what I was feeling. LR: You kind of were talking about it a little bit with your last statement, feeling like there’s a wall in place and the solution isn't obvious because of this wall. I recognize that you're no longer a student at Weber when the centers closed, but 15 did you think that there might have been another, a better, a different way of handling it than what was done? KB: I do think so. I know it had to happen super quickly. There wasn't a lot of notice on what had to be done. It was like a couple of months, and then things were left up in the air and there weren't official guidelines given until right under the wire. I remember hearing about that, because we had been waiting for them—myself and Jessica Fisher and I think also Kit—we’d been waiting to hear about these things so that we could at least plan for the future. Kit had an executive position related to it that she'd been elected to, and Jessica Fisher's job was obviously impacted. She was the Resource Center program coordinator at the time. So, we were all very anxiously awaiting for any sort of guidelines to be handed down from school administration to us. But school administration had not gotten them yet, because it had to come from, you know, people higher than them. They just weren't handing those guidelines down yet, which is why it took forever to be able to come to any sort of plan that wasn't, like, a set of contingencies. I forgot what I was answering. LR: Just could you see a different way or a better way of handling it? KB: Yeah, there were definitely better ways that we saw and had talked about. I think we always knew that they were going to have to end up back under Student Access and Success. That was where the LGBT Resource Center was originally before it got pulled out. So, moving everybody under there made a lot more sense, especially as a way to keep these centers, like, real and tangible. I feel 16 like what we preferred as students was not… [Sirens in background] Sometimes I forget I live right by a fire station. Sorry. LR: All good. KB: What we would have preferred as students, I believe, was that the centers stay open with the possibility of constructing new centers for other student needs. Because, you know, the Women's Center and the Nontraditional Student Center and the various racially affiliated centers, they served particular interests within the community. If the complaint was that, like, white students or straight students or male students weren't being served enough, then we should go and find a way to help them and uplift them as well, instead of tearing everybody down and making everybody equal on a lower playing field. Like, as an example of this, there was this guy who one of us had spoken to who was very concerned about—even though Safe@Weber was housed in the Women's Center, and because it was housed there, he didn't feel particularly safe going there because of things that he had been through, and also because he knew how it looked for a guy to be hanging out in there without being associated with the LGBT Resource Center. So, he'd had this idea of like, let's make like a small center for guys to go to so they can also have their stuff served without infringing on other people, or without making other people feel uncomfortable. Which like, there's a lot to be said about the culture of feeling like that. But, you know, when the alternative is tearing everything down… 17 LR: Do you think, if given enough time and actually the opportunity to be involved, that students might have been able to come up with something? A different, maybe even better solution? KB: I hope so. I would hope so, yeah. LR: So, I know that you haven't been on campus with them actually closed, but having had the opportunity to kind of listen and hear some of the reactions at the end of the school year, what were some of the reactions of the students to the possibility of the centers closing? KB: Yeah, just a lot of like fear and outrage. They weren't particularly pleased by it. You know, because the Black Student Center had just gotten furniture, and that was like a big thing for them. We were hearing in the Student Fee Recommendation Committee about all these plans for making these centers a place of both community and academic achievement by bringing in, like, mentors to help tutor people. The lounge area in the Women's Center was a place where a lot of people would gather to study or work on things that they needed to do for different events they were involved in and be able to talk and just have a space to do that. Losing those places was like, to water it down, it was not fun. To put it more strongly, it was frustrating and terrifying for a lot of people, I know. LR: Tell me, what were your feelings about that? About the closing. KB: Kind of disbelief. I mean, they'd been there for so long. LR: Right. Will you expand on that a little bit? The disbelief? If you feel like. KB: Yeah. For as anxious and amped-up a person as I am, I find it really hard to get upset about things, especially things like this. I kind of found myself living in like 18 this dual state of, “Let's make a set of plans for if this does happen,” and also, “That's so totally not gonna happen. That can't be happening. That's insane. It would be insane for people to suggest that.” It's like it couldn't actually set in to my head until they were kind of gone. LR: Okay, that makes sense. I appreciate you expanding on that. Do either of you have any questions? Okay. How do you think students will be helped or hindered by the restructuring of the of the centers and the closing of their actual physical locations? KB: Honestly, I don't know, because I haven't been there, so I can't pull from actual things that I've seen to say anything. I know that back then we were really concerned about like, what had been proposed was like a two-floor structure with rooms and learning areas within it so that people could meet with like specific, you know, associated… I don't want to say counselors, but like coordinators and things, so that those people in charge of the centers could retain their jobs, and the students served by it could continue to go there and get those needs met and be pushed to graduate. Because that was a big thing. That was the reason that they could continue to do that is because it served student needs in a way that pushed them toward academic success. I know that in that specific proposal of a two-floor structure, we were very concerned about it being two floors, because a lot of students who utilized those centers had like specifically issues with their legs that would have made climbing stairs that often particularly hard. We had a lot of cane users, a lot of wheelchair users, and they wouldn't have been able to access this. That was something we 19 were really afraid of that I think I brought up, or somebody else did, but it was something we were really concerned about. But I'm not sure what they look like now, so I can't say for sure what other issues I would anticipate. LR: Thinking about the fact that the position you held in the Senate is no longer a thing, how do you think that will impact the students moving forward? KB: For the students who know and are aware and are concerned about it, I think it will impact them immensely in terms of like they no longer concretely have that voice. I don't know what the formalized process for instituting a person in that position is. I know they were couched under like a secondary label of senators, so they could continue to serve, but I don't know what the like legislative underbearing and foundation of that is. Previously had it been that you could get like a petition of, I think, 150 people and your nominee for that position, present it to the Senate, and if it's passed, that position now exists, which I think would have been fine. It would have worked. The example that I used back then was like, if I wanted to make a German American senator position, I could find 150 German American students on campus, they could make this petition, present it to the Senate, boom, now we have one. Nobody's materially left out by this. But people are left out when we take away that avenue. There are a lot of student interests that aren't served by having all these funds allocated toward, like, hockey events, and frat and sorority charity balls and things of that nature. So, losing like the Native American Student Senator means that the powwow doesn't get its funding, because people can't present that unless they bring it up 20 in issues forum, which isn't a way to actually bring it forward, you know. They lose that crucial step in attaining things that they need. LR: Thank you for that. One more quick question before I ask the final two. Once you graduated, what were your plans? KB: I wanted to move back in with my parents for about four months, get hired in my field, and move out. Those were my plans. I also was retaining contact with people that I knew so that I could help out in whatever ways that they needed. LR: So, you're still involved with some of the happenings on campus, is that what you're saying? KB: I was. I was for a little bit. Over the summer, I helped set up the CSI Club. I was really involved in writing their constitution because of the legislative experience I had. But because things were changing so much, I ended up mostly just helping draft it instead of providing as much advice as I would have been able to previously. So, I was involved with that, and then I was still involved with GSA leadership. I came up for Block Party because neither members of the presidency were able to stay for the whole thing. So, I stayed up and I did outreach for them. LR: The GSA, is that still able to function on campus? KB: Yes, because it's a student group. It's housed under Clubs and Organizations. As long as they fill out their paperwork and make sure that they're set up in a specific way… There's like two classes of group now, there's registered and sponsored, I believe. I would have to double check. It's been months since I last looked at it. But like, as long as they're not in the one that's like “We're affiliated with the 21 school and therefore receive this type of funding,” they can continue to operate as is. LR: Okay. The GSA isn't necessarily sponsored by the university? KB: Not necessarily, no. Because it has to do with like university affiliation and stuff. So, like the CSI club could get academic funding, but the GSA couldn't unless they were associated with the queer studies program, which they're not. LR: Okay. That makes sense. That's interesting. I did not know that, so thank you for clarifying. Do either of you have any questions? Okay. So, why is community important? KB: I think it gives people a place to belong to, you know? Even in the situation that I find myself in where I find myself existing on the periphery of things that I arguably should be not on the periphery of, you know, I find friends there. I find people to be close to. I find ways to get involved and care for people outside of myself. I think community outside of the family unit is this broader way to care for people. LR: Before I ask my last question, do you have anything else you'd like to add? KB: Just that I'm sorry for being so rambly. LR: You haven't been rambling at all. This has been good. I appreciate your willingness. What do you think we as individuals can do to foster relationships and meet the needs of the underserved communities here at Weber, and wherever we belong? KB: I think a lot of it is getting out of your own head and getting out of your own way. There's always going to be some legal force keeping you from being truly 22 comfortable in doing the things that you need to do, but that doesn't mean that people don't need to be served. That doesn't mean that you don't need care as well. So, looking past that aspect of it, the set in stone law, things like HB261 or like the old cross-dressing laws, things like that. Looking past those, I think a lot of it is you've got to ask yourself, what do the people around me need? How can I help them get to it? Even if it's just like sitting there and letting them talk. Or, you know, in the other way, letting yourself lean on them, because people don't like being the person who leans all the time. LR: I really appreciate your willingness to share and be a part of this project. It has meant a lot to all of us, so thank you for your willingness. 23 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW AGREEMENT 17 January 25 day of _________________, 20__ This Interview Agreement is made and entered into this ________________ by and between the Weber State University Stewart Library Oral History Program (WSUSLOHP) Kimberly Baker and_________________________________________, hereinafter called "Interviewee." 10:00am/01-17-2025 Interviewee agrees to participate in a recorded interview, commencing on or about ___________________time/date, Lorrie Rands with_________________________________________. This Interview Agreement relates to any and all materials originating from the interview, namely the recording of the interview and any written materials, including but not limited to the transcript or other finding aids prepared from the recording. In consideration of the mutual covenants, conditions, and terms set forth below, the parties hereby agree as follows: 1. 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