Oral History Program Tylar Hall Interviewed by Marina Kenner 23 January 2025 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Tylar Hall Interviewed by Marina Kenner 23 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: Hall, Tylar, an oral history by Marina Kenner, 23 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 Tylar Hall, conducted on January 23, 2025 in the Stewart Library by Marina Kenner for the Connecting Weber oral history project about the closing of the cultural centers. Tylar talks about what brought her to Weber State University and her role in the in the student senate. She also talks about her feelings regarding the closing of the cultural centers on campus. Also present is the video technician, Kandice Harris. MK: Today is Thursday, January 23, 2025. We are in the oral history room at Weber State University and this is Marina Kenner doing the interview. Kandice Harris is our video technician, and we are interviewing Tyler Hall for the cultural center interviews. Did I forget anything? Okay, perfect. We will start with when and where were you born? TH: I was born here in Utah. I was born in Layton in 2004. So, from around here. MK: Yeah. That's good. Did you grow up anywhere else other than Layton? TH: I lived in West Point for the first few years of my life, and then I moved into Roy area and have lived there ever since with my mother. I've still kind of been in the area, still kind of know the place. I didn't really travel around a lot, so I wasn't familiar with Ogden until I started coming to Weber State. MK: Okay. KH: What was it like growing up in Roy? TH: It was very nice. My mom had health complications. I also have my own health complications, so we didn't really get out that much. My mom’s legally blind, so we'd walk around, and we'd walk to the store together with like a little car. We were able to get out in our community and actually be able to go and do things at 1 least around us. But it was very nice. I'm in the rural part of Roy, so I’m kind of on the verge of Hooper, so that little area where it's like farming and stuff. I'm not accustomed to city life, not accustomed to all the buildings, all the traffic, but it's been nice so far, at least with being here at Weber State. MK: You and I are neighbors. I’m out in that area too. Where did you go to high school? TH: I went to Roy. MK: Okay. What was that like? TH: I had a very hard time in high school. I was that kid that was awkward, I didn't get along with anyone, and so I very much kind of kept to my own. I jumped from group to group. I think my senior year is when I finally kind of settled into one group and actually made some friends I'm still friends with to this day. I'm thankful for that at least. It was definitely hard getting to where I am now, but I appreciate the times where I did struggle. MK: Okay. That's good that you have a good group of friends. What brought you to Weber State? TH: With Weber State, first off, I live in the area, I wanted to be close to home, wanted to be near my mom if anything happened, and also Weber State has my degree, full, so like, I don't have to go anywhere else. I don't have to go to a master’s program or anything. I can just get my bachelor’s and be able to go with it. Also, the community with Weber State, because Weber State is very much known for being out in the community and actually broadening just from more of the university level. So, kind of going out to like local businesses or being able to 2 communicate with people from all over the area instead of just from the students with Weber State. MK: Okay. Does Roy High School have any of those CE classes? TH: Yes. MK: Did you participate in those at all? TH: I did. I participated in about five. MK: That's a lot. TH: Yeah. I did criminal justice. I did ASL 1, I did ASL 2 and 3 for Weber State. I also did a fashion class that they had tied to Weber State. That one, unfortunately, I couldn't sign up for credits. I also did a—oh, I did actually like seven, but I did a human development, I did another one that was somewhere in human development, and then I did a retailing. So, I did quite a few different ones. MK: Okay. That's really cool. TH: Yeah. MK: Where are you at Weber State? Are you a senior or a junior? TH: I am currently a junior. MK: Okay, perfect. Do you feel like those classes helped you at all prepare for college? TH: I think they did. I think a lot of the aspects that were in those classes definitely helped, especially with the grading scale. That definitely helped me understand that a D is not passing, so I was able to get A’s and B’s in all those classes and was able to start out my GPA at Weber State with a good kind of counsel, I suppose. 3 MK: Okay. That's cool. What's the degree you're going for? TH: I'm going for physical education. MK: That's really cool. As you're getting into Weber State, how did your time here start? MK: My first year I was very on my own because, like, all my friends didn't go to college. I only had my boyfriend who came with me. He had all his friends and I didn't really have anyone. It was very much on my own. But then I was able to broaden my spectrums with a lot of different things on campus, like the cultural centers that used to be here with the Student Success Center. I was able to broaden out a little bit more and kind of get to know more people and get more resources through what they had on campus. MK: Okay. KH: How did you get involved with the student association? TH: My uncle actually works here as a custodian, and he recommended that I go for a position in Student Senate. I was like, “Why not?” I put in as a write-in candidate, and I just happened to get in. That's kind of how it all started. It was very different, especially with how the voting was there compared to what it is going to be. It definitely has a different feel for it. KH: Would you talk about what the differences are? TH: So, with the closing of the cultural centers and the new HB261 law, we have to change a lot of the ballot. We have to essentially take away some of the positions. Like my position has been entirely rewritten. My position used to be the LGBTQ+ senator, but unfortunately, due to the law, we had to take that away. 4 Now I'm the Safe@Weber senator. Essentially, now I correlate myself with Safe@Weber instead of what used to be the LGBTQ+ Center that they had on campus. With all the cultural diversity that we have within Senate right now, and with us trying to work it around in the ballot, we are currently looking at possibly turning it into appointed positions for, not for the cultural ones, but for the, gosh, I forgot what they’re named. The positions are… I used to have this name. I need to remember it. But essentially all the cultural ones, like we have to change the disabilities, but disabilities is going back to normal. But all those positions that were changed will most likely be appointed. But we still are kind of in the up in arms. We still don't know exactly, but we're hoping to get it finalized by around a couple of weeks. A lot’s definitely changed in Student Senate. MK: Who's appointing these positions? Do you guys know? TH: It's usually the executive chair, the person who's over Senate. Usually, you put in an application, then they review it and they kind of do a little interview with you and get to know you and see if you are a good fit for the position and if you have the stuff that you need required to have the position. It all just kind of depends on the person. It all kind of depends on the situation and if you're in good standing with the school or not. I know there was a good handful that did do the interviews for this year. I personally didn't go through the interviews, so I don't know what they're like. But yeah, so there's that whole process usually. MK: [To Kandice] Do you have any follow ups? KH: What are your duties as a senator? 5 TH: So, my duties is essentially to help represent sort of a group on campus, like we have all the ones for colleges, we have the disabilities, we have the veterans, and with me, the Safe@Weber. I essentially help represent the Safe@Weber, like their staff and all the people are associated with Safe@Weber. I help vote on things and help to change our constitution or change our bylaws to help benefit more students who are affiliated with that group. Essentially, a lot of what we did this year, we rewrote the whole entire bylaws for Weber State. We thankfully edited those to help benefit more of the student body and especially help with Weber State just in general. So, that's kind of what I do. MK: [To Kandice] Do you have any other follow ups? Okay. I want to go back to when you were talking about the cultural centers. You mentioned that you found them and kind of got involved with them. How did you find them? What drew you in? TH: I was a lonely little queer child. You know, I was out, but like, I wasn't confident in myself. I didn't have the confidence I have now. I was a totally different person; I looked totally different, I acted totally different. I thankfully found the Black Cultural Center first, and they were very welcoming. They were very helpful. They honestly just kind of welcomed me with open arms, and so I started looking into what other centers that they had and what other things that they had, essentially. I found the LGBTQ+ Center, so I went to them and they were of course really helpful. They were amazing, and they were very open arms as well. It kind of helped me gauge a community that I felt like I could be a part of and that I could essentially be myself around. That's kind of what brought me out of that little shell and got me to where I am now to just be myself to the fullest I can be. 6 MK: Okay. What were some of the things that the LGBTQ+ Center and the Black Cultural Center did that just made you feel really included? TH: They really helped with finding resources on campus. If you ever needed help, they were able to just kind of assist you with anything that you needed. They also like, essentially they were all just so friendly. They all were so nice and kind, and they all were so open and they were willing to hear you out. They were willing to talk with you and be able to kind of experience your experiences with you in a kind of sense. It very much felt like there were other people who were there with you instead of you just going at what you were going through alone. It was very helpful in that aspect to find those centers, you know, because it made you feel a sense of belonging, a sense of a place that you felt like you could be anything. You could be anyone you want; your past doesn't define you, your future does. It's kind of like you can rewrite it as you keep going along. It was a lot of that sort of aspects, where they were just very much positive about, “Well, you can fix this if you do this,” and they kind of just assisted you in how to make yourself better and how to make yourself progress in a positive aspect. MK: Okay. That's really cool. Do you have any really fond memories? TH: I remember one time I went into the LGBTQ+ Center. It was probably my second time, so they didn't know my name yet. They don't know anything about me. I went in there, and one of the people sitting just in the center was like, “I know you. I’ve seen you in one of my classes.” We started talking, I got to know them more, and essentially, we just kind of opened up to each other. 7 Essentially, we learned that we had some things that were very similar, and we had a lot of things that were also very different. That's kind of what helped me ground in myself and be like, people are different, but people are also the same in some aspects. Being able to engage in those similarities, and being able to connect to people who have those similarities and who can understand what you've been through and who can understand what you are going through currently, really helps you know that you're not alone and that you have someone there with you. Being able to open up with that person I had in my class really helped bring me to the confident more me that I am now, especially little scared me that was too scared to do anything really. I was so in my shell, I was so much of—like, I didn't look like this. I looked very, very different. It was very much a sense of you can be who you want to be. A sense of you are you, and you're the only you, and yet there are still people who can be here for you and who have still experienced similar things, even though you are your own person. That's kind of the big thing. I think that one conversation was really the biggest thing that got me to where I am now. TH: That's really cool. It's nice to have that sense of comradery. [To Kandice] Do you have anything you want to ask? Okay. So, how long have you served as a student senator? TH: I started in, well, technically, it officially started August, so I have been serving as a senator since school began. We have like meetings and stuff beforehand, but not official, just kind of training and stuff. But since like the beginning of school till 8 now, I have been a student senator. I didn't do the position before at all. It was my first year, first time jumping in headfirst, you know. So, it was definitely a lot to get used to, but thankfully I was able to get along and get rolling on those things. KH: Are there any memories from the—I mean you shared the connections, but were there any events between either the Black Cultural Center or the LGBTQ+ Center that really stand out? TH: I know with GSA still does it. I don't think it was a part of the LGBTQ Center, but I don't know. But they do a queer prom thing. Essentially, if you weren't able to be yourself in high school, you can go to a prom and you can just be who you want to be there and associate with people who would understand you. I went to that, and it was a little overwhelming at first, but it very much helped me open my eyes and essentially helped bring me into a place of, you know, belonging, like I said. But like, that event is probably one of the biggest events that I went to. I didn't go to many events, but that one was the biggest one I went to, at least last year. MK: Is that one like the big hoopla, where you get to wear a ball gown if you want wear a ball gown? TH: Yeah, it's the big like, “I'm going to prom, I'm going to go full send,” and some of them are creative with their outfits, I'm telling you. Some of them got some elaborate things. Some people have the simplest little thing. It really is just so broad in what comes in through those doors, and it really is just inspiring to see everyone being what they want, having what they want, and essentially just kind of feeling themselves, you know? 9 MK: Yeah. That's really cool. [To Kandice] Do you have anything else you wanna ask? Okay. If you're willing to share, what are your feelings about the closing of the cultural centers? TH: My feelings. I am very upset that they did close, and I feel very strongly about it. But like, my thing is I try to keep myself reserved. I kind of try to make sure I don't overstimulate those things. I'm very upset about it, but I don't like progressively put my word out, just because with a lot of it, we had a lot of issues with the centers closing with us who were senators of engagement. That's the name, senators of engagement. All of us kind of had our own feelings towards it, and like all of us were obviously upset and obviously devastated. Some more than others, but like it definitely impacted me in a way, because that was kind of the first place that I felt myself open up. I felt myself feel a sense of belonging and a sense of, you know, pride in myself. To see that place just kind of be washed away, essentially, and to be kind of cast out really made me upset, made me very sad, very devastated. Especially since I didn't find out that my position wasn't going to be LGBTQ+ senator until after I was put into the position. I found out at least I think, a few weeks after I got put into the position and they still didn't know what we were doing, what was going to change. To see especially the LGBTQ+ senator being taken away too, you know, especially having that be the position that I ran for being what I wanted to help do and help kind of bring forward definitely was upsetting. 10 I think both of those kind of tied into each other a lot, because the representation and the sense of belonging isn't there anymore. It isn't really, at least, put out on a broad spectrum. There's still some, like there's still support in the Student Success Center, there's still support with other faculty members and stuff like that. But having it essentially be overwritten kind of sucks, but like, that's just my opinion. MK: How do you think other students are reacting to the closing of the cultural centers? TH: I know a lot of other students feel the same way that I do. I know a lot of students who have felt that everything's kind of been taken away in a sense. Because a lot of them, especially since the Black Cultural Center was only recently put in before it was shut down, a lot of people felt they didn't have that cultural belonging. Because as people grow up, we all have different experiences, we all have different senses and that kind of cultural aspect. So, to have those centers that possibly could have you feel that sense of belonging, that sense of want, need, especially people who aren't from here, especially people who are far away from their homes, far away from families, to have that place where you can go and relate to other people definitely affects it negatively. A lot of students have been affected by it negatively, at least from what I can tell. KH: How has WSUSA or the former heads of the cultural centers tried to keep that community alive? TH: Personally, my advisor for Senate is Jessica Fisher, and she is an amazing woman. She's absolutely outstanding. She has essentially tried to make groups. 11 She's made events like studying sessions. She's helped with GSA, trying to broaden out their spectrum to kind of gauge more people to come in. I don't know for the other groups, because I know there is clubs for them. I don't know how they're engaging and stuff like that. But like, Jessica Fisher has definitely been putting in the effort to broaden that spectrum and to broaden that sense of belonging, especially with GSA, and has been trying to get more students to go and participate in club activities, participate in club events. Even though the center has closed, they're still putting in an effort. MK: [To Kandice] Did you have anything else? Okay. You kind of answered this, so we'll see, but how do you envision students will be helped or hindered under—the things says restructured departments, but I'm more interested in the restructured senator organization? TH: So, with how the new structure for senators, essentially what we're trying to do is—because now anyone can go for the positions, anyone can go for any position that they want. We want that, we want that especially. With the positions, a lot of them are—especially the senators of engagement—a lot of them are affiliated with cultural centers, and were kind of affiliated with those centers before HB261. With that changing, a lot of them have kind of gone to the clubs and have tried to broaden out the club spectrum and try and engage more, have the clubs engage more in events and sort of go out and try and talk to people, try to get people to join, essentially. That's kind of where we're putting in the lines is in the clubs, at least this year we have been. I unfortunately won't know what happens, because I won't be rerunning. But for next year I don't know exactly how it's going 12 to be structured still. I still don't know exactly how things will work, because it's still up in arms. A lot of it is trying to get around the HB261 and trying to be able to still have that person be able to have that sense of belonging with the culture and be able to kind of relate to the people who they're supposed to be representing. Because like, that's what a lot of students look for, especially in senators. Like, imagine having someone going to the school for social behavior sciences be the senator for like, engineering. They don't know exactly what's going on in that situation. Essentially, we're trying to figure out a way to work around it, but also be able to have anyone open for the position, because that's what we want. That's what we need. It's definitely a hard restructure, and I unfortunately haven't been much a part of it, just because with my position changing I've been busy working with still the Safe@Weber, and I'm also still working with Jessica Fisher in the LGBTQ, GSA aspect. I'm definitely working a little bit double time, but I'm still trying to get to those meetings where we are discussing that sort of stuff. But I'm hoping that it'll get better with time and essentially we'll be able to get into a flow of things and be able to find something that works. KH: With all the changes, are they planning on keeping the same number of senators? TH: I am pretty sure they are. I know the disabilities and the veteran senators are going back to normal. I don't know about the other ones. I know they're still up in arms about the traditional and nontraditional being put back into the Senate, just 13 because it does technically exclude a demographic of people. That's kind of where it's tricky, where we have to find an aspect of anyone can be a part of this, but also we have to walk that fine line, essentially is what I'm saying. KH: Do you think moving forward, the senators that—when you were elected, you were the LGBTQ+ senator. Do you feel like those roles will kind of continue on, that there will be a senator of engagement that's going to be kind of more LGBTQ+ focused, or is it just going to be more of a broad, just senator of engagement? TH: Regarding the LGBTQ+ senator, I know that that position is completely wiped out. There will not be any sort of affiliation with LGBTQ+, at least from what I've been told. I know that the senators of engagement will most likely be, ‘cause they are currently committee, we are currently working as a group. Essentially, all of us kind of work together on all of it. I think that's more what they're gonna go for next year, as well as essentially have a whole committee work together as the senators of engagement instead of each individual person being put towards a different club or a different sort of organization and stuff like that. At least from what I've seen and what I've been told. MK: I know the clubs have been a little bit contested as well. We’ve seen a lot more of the clubs being, it was the school sponsorship. Are they still school sponsored or are they more individualistic students just getting together? TH: I honestly do not know the answer to that question. MK: That's fair. 14 TH: That is one thing, I'm not a part of the clubs really. I used to go to like a few things, but like, I'm not actively going every single time, But last I heard, I don't know. MK: That's fair. That is fair. [To Kandice] Did you have something? Okay. I know you've talked a little bit about how you ran for the LGBTQ student senator and now you're the Safe@Weber senator. With that change and everything else going on, how do you feel you are serving your community in your position on campus? TH: I feel like I, with my position, I've definitely been able to engage more with students. I've been able to kind of broaden out, especially my social norms. Because like with me, I had like no friends; now I have a ton of people that I know. I have a ton of people that just recognize me or I can recognize them. Essentially, it's kind of been able to bring back that sort of sense of belonging and that sense of people that I know. With helping students, with helping student faculty and helping with especially the bylaws, because we had this year our first possible president taken out. With that, we realized that the bylaws were simply awful in that aspect, so we were able to rewrite those so stuff like that goes through a better flow, a better pattern. Being able to represent those people who are going through something, especially with me being the Safe@Weber senator, with people who are going through a hard time, who need help, who essentially are needing resources, and being able to kind of go out there and help put them out. I've been trying to get a lot more student ambassadors for Safe@Weber. I personally am one, and 15 essentially it's just where you go through a training where you go through a whole bunch of safety things like precautions and stuff to where you can help students get resources if they're being abused or if they're in an unsafe situation, or if there is an unsafe situation where there's like a fight or something's happening, you essentially can help deescalate it and help get them to the resources that they need. That is one thing that I've been majorly working on, is getting a lot more student ambassadors to try and go in, because we have a lot of faculty that's part of the Safe@Weber program. The biggest thing is that the students aren't really involved, so that's my biggest priority that I've been working on. MK: Okay. What does your average engagement with the student body look like as a senator? TH: We meet at least once a week. At least, the senators do. I know there's some luncheons that we go to every once in a while. I think it's about every other week, once every month. It really depends on the schedule. I personally haven't, like, engaged with a lot of them. I've engaged with, I forgot the title, but I engaged with one of the members of the presidential team, and she's very nice to work with. She's great. I've been trying to outreach to more senators as well, because I know a lot of the senators aren't very much looped together. They don't really work well together. Besides from my committee, I've been trying to get more senators involved with like the student ambassador program or trying to get them involved with more cultural aspects of getting out there and kind of telling the students, “Hey, we have this, we have this, we have this.” That's kind of where my outreach towards the student body is. I don't have much, but I've been trying. 16 MK: [To Kandice] Okay, did you have anything? All right. Why is community important? TH: For my opinion, community is very important, because essentially, like I've said before, you get those people who are not with their families, they're not around people that they know, they don't have people they can rely on. A community is where you have people that you can go to, you have people that you can talk with, that you can feel with, that you can ask for help and essentially get those resources and get that help that you need. A lot of people now are like from Nepal. I know I have a roommate from Nepal. So, a lot of them are trying to find other people from Nepal and essentially trying to gauge that community that they otherwise wouldn't have around here, because a lot of us don't know the community over in Nepal. We don't live there. We live over here. A lot of them have been forming groups. They've been trying to get together. Essentially, my basic definition of a community is a place where you can feel like you belong and you can get help and resources if necessary. Weber State is a massive community. Weber State is a big one. They have so many resources and they have so many different programs, aspects, clubs that you can find people that you relate with. You can find people that you want to be friends with, that you want to engage with. That's the biggest thing in a community is being able to get that engagement and being able to get that positivity from one another and be able to kind of relate that to anything, really. So, that's my opinion of it at least. 17 MK: Okay. What do you think we as individuals can do to foster relationships and meet the needs of the underserved communities of Weber? TH: My biggest thing is outreach, because like, a lot of people don't know about resources. They don't know about clubs, they don't know about that sense of being able to engage with other people. Like especially with me in my first year, I was very much that kid that had no one. I was that kid that was very much on their own. Now I have a million people that I know, so being able to have those people around you and being able to have that community, being able to have other students be with you essentially in aspects of either schooling, life, friends, anything like that. Being able to have those people be with you, it's definitely a positive experience. My biggest thing is outreach, being able to go and communicate with someone. Like, go and say hi to someone randomly and be like, “Hi, what's your name?” and try and get to know someone and being able to be friendly and being able to essentially try and put that positive outreach to other people. ‘Cause a lot of it has been affected by the HB261 law, and a lot of it has changed due to the HB261 law. Really getting out there and being able to just talk to someone, say hi to someone who looks like they're having a hard day, or just get a study session together with a group of students in your class, you know. Being able to communicate is the biggest thing that you need to help someone else who could possibly be in need or could possibly need someone and you just don't know it. MK: Okay. That was my last question. Is there anything else you want to state or wanted to follow up on? 18 TH: No. I got it all out. I was really repetitive but… MK: It was good. Thank you so much for your time today. TH: Yeah, for sure. Thank you. 19