Oral history interview of Tiffaney Boyd for Black Student Center oral history project, April 15th, 2021

Sierra Jenkins: Today is Thursday, April 15th, 2021 at 3:04 PM. I am Sierra Jenkins, student at CSU [California State University] San Marcos, and today I'm interviewing Tiffany Boyd for the Black Student Center Oral History Project, a collaboration of the CSUSM Black Student Center and CSUSM University Library, Special Collections. Tiffany, thank you for being here with me today.

Tiffany Boyd: Thank you.

Sierra Jenkins: All right, so I'm going to just jump right in with the questions. And the first one I have for you is, start out with where you were born and where did you grow up?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. I was born in Moreno Valley, California. And I grew up in San Jacinto, well Hemet/San Jacinto area, which is Inland Empire, California. I 00:01:00don't know if you wanted me to go more, but I grew up there.

Sierra Jenkins: Yeah. How was it growing up in that area?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. So, so that area is kind of economically, uninvested in or divested in, right. I grew up in some apartment complexes there, and you know, a lot of crime, a lot of poverty to say the least, surrounds, and it was within Hemet California just because it is not close to big business or anything. It's 30 minutes out to the freeway. My high school was next to a dairy farm. And so the education system, I went to a high school that was brand new. We were the first freshmen, first graduating class out there and you could tell that. I 00:02:00didn't have to write essays in high school at all. I had a substitute teacher for three years. It was just, substitute teacher after year after year for my English class, in which I didn't have to write and really the students were able to kind of run the show for three years because the same teacher was assigned, but she was out. And so I think just going to that high school realized how much education was not, you know, like factored or very like highly focused on at my school.

Sierra Jenkins: Oh, wow. That's, That's crazy. But that kind of goes into my next question of, what were you taught in childhood and adolescence about Black history and the Black experience, whether it be through education or life, family?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. You know, I think within my family, it was always 00:03:00emphasized to go to school, to go to college eventually. But as far as Black history specifically, it wasn't much, taught in my school. It wasn't until much later into college and electives that I was really able to learn about Black history above and beyond MLK day or some type of form of Black History Month, but not really getting into the, I guess, the depths of our history and all of the fighters that were, you know, had to fight against oppression and, applied against the systems that continue to not invest in Black economics and Black justice. And so I think growing up with my parents, and in Hemet that is, was originally a retirement city for older folks, older white folks, and was a city that Black people weren't welcomed in and my dad was harassed by the police in 00:04:00Hemet, right, got like 21 tickets in one year, from just like walking, driving, biking, no matter what, just like: what are you doing here, never seen you before in this area? And so I think, watching my dad and his interaction with the criminal justice system younger kind of taught me, I think, a lot about Black history in some ways, or like the historic ways that in which Black people are treated in this country. And so, we're seeing a lot of that today as far as folks being harassed doing normal things as Black people, but still not being seen as a whole person or someone worth the dignity and right to live.

Sierra Jenkins: How did you come to your own understanding of Blackness?

Tiffaney Boyd: I don't know. I don't even know what that means. I mean, I don't 00:05:00even know. I think for me coming to college, I went to a high school that had, you know, Black and Brown and it was a very diverse high school. Not as far as diverse teachers, but the students were diverse. Coming to San Marcos where we were less than 3% of the population at the campus was something that was new for me. And it did throw me a little bit off that there wasn't, you could be the only Black person in campus or in your class often. I don't think I had one Black professor during my time at San Marcos and so that was also kind of just different, and made hyper aware of my, that I was Black, that I'm different. And I think that realizing that we didn't have a like organization like sororities 00:06:00fraternities at the time, we didn't have like Black focused clubs. There was a BSU [Black Student Union], but at that time it wasn't active. And so there was a very desired need just to be with people of likeness that kind of understood the Black experience, whatever that kind of means. But for me, Blackness just means pride or an understanding that there are struggles that we go through or that we've been through that other ethnicities and races haven't necessarily had that struggle.

Sierra Jenkins: Okay. And,you mentioned that you came, like you learned more about your, about Black history and the Black experience in college was that through classes and I guess since you didn't use to have like the BSU and Black sororities, did it come through the Black Student Center later?

Tiffaney Boyd: So I didn't come through the Black Student Center later because 00:07:00we didn't, I didn't get to benefit from the Black Student Center at all. I think through sociology classes and through criminology courses and communications courses. One course which is kind of almost the opposite, but yet it still points to it is The Communication of Whiteness, is a class taught by Jim Mamoon that kind of just put into perspective. I think a lot of times we do focus on the experience of Black people and how we've gotten, come to be, but it's like, how do we continue to perpetuate whiteness and how that affects the power structures that we face today? And so I think being able to talk about inequality and race in my sociology classes really put into perspective of how everything isn't necessarily so, I guess happenstance, but that systems are 00:08:00perpetuated and created and policies are perpetuated and created that allow the experience that I have in which I'm going to a school that is underfunded or that, I wasn't, you know, had access to AP courses or anything that it's perpetuated, that structural racism kind of works in that way. And so I think that that's how I was able to form more of a strong identity that, you know, we don't have a pipeline program at our, on our campus. That we're not recognized as Black students, that our struggles are different than a traditional student or how higher education was originally formed. And so I think that, in that I wanted to create a space where, and dialogue and room for us to kind of talk about the experience of being at San Marcos and not necessarily being seen.

Sierra Jenkins: That's awesome. That kind of goes back what you're talking about, with like what's going on today and like that kind of thing. So my next 00:09:00question is how has Black social justice and activism such as the civil rights movement, feminism, the natural hair movement and Black Lives Matter affected you?

Tiffaney Boyd: Yeah, I would say it was affecting me a lot. So the first, the first iteration of some way, like I was already kind of aware, but I think it was like a appointment, like exclamation mark when Trayvon Martin died or was a murdered, assassin, killed. And I was in a sociology class and we were talking about Hurricane Katrina and just how that, how there wasn't help from the federal government to this area. And then of course, we're like studying this. And then at the same time, Trayvon Martin is killed through, with Skittles in his hand. And so that year, I want to say it was either, I want to say 2013 or 00:10:002014, we went and I had my parents come to a protest march in LA. And I think that in that you kind of just continue to be aware. And then you hear about Freddy [Gray] and you hear about Eric Garner and all of these folks. And so I think that that has really been something that has stayed with me. We did during our time, and you'll hear from other students about the natural hair show that we had at our campus. And, and you realize that folks are either afraid or ashamed of their hair texture as it is. And so I think that awareness of like what Black Lives Matter and what civil rights did and how they've pushed forward an agenda to say: hey, we are just as human, we're as dignified as anybody else, and we deserve those same rights and the same ability to flourish and have jobs. 00:11:00And you just see the historical ways in which, again and again, Black people are trying and are succeeding. But they are, it's much harder for us to do so.

Sierra Jenkins: Can you tell me about more about the natural hair show that you mentioned? I've actually never heard of, haven't heard of that yet.

Tiffaney Boyd: Yeah. So, on our campus as, so when I was a freshman on the campus we didn't have, our BSU [Black Student Union] was not strong. We didn't have a core group of folks that were involved. We didn't have faculty that were invested either. And so a few students started that mantel my year and by the third year, BSU, like my third year of college, we had put on a natural hair show in which, when we first began as well we didn't have a [university] student union, which now we do have a student union in which people are able to do 00:12:00gather and be a center hub of the campus. And so that first year that it opened, we had this big hair show, Black natural hair show in which students volunteered to model their hair as it is, afros and curls and braids, and was just a celebration, had folks who were hairstylists and had their own businesses come and promote their businesses. And then had students able to walk the catwalk in a way, and then have some uplifting powering music and just a way to come together and celebrate to say, this is our hair texture and this is something to be celebrated that everybody is different, and beautiful in and of their own right.

Sierra Jenkins: That sounds amazing. Did you guys only have it that year? Is it 00:13:00something that's reoccurred since then?

Tiffaney Boyd: Yeah, so it's reoccurred since then, each year. I'm not quite sure, I'm about a few years removed. But I do know that Akilah Green, who was the, she had recently that time had, did the big chop. And she was impetus, or she was the go starter for this event. And I know that there's been a few times where she's been called back to participate in the natural hair show that she began. So I want to say that it's at least like the sixth year, if it's still continuing either virtually or not, I'm pretty sure that there have been students that kind of continued it on. But yeah, it's been like an annual thing and it's really a beautiful event.

Sierra Jenkins: That's so cool. I'm going to definitely check that out. What is your relationship to the BSC [Black Student Center]? Why did you get involved?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. So, my, in my senior year, my fifth year, I was present... 00:14:00Well, I guess it to go back, in 2014, I want to say, I was vice president in the... Actually, sorry, I'll go back even more. I was a representative. I was like a rep, a rep for the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral, and Social Sciences [in Associated Students Incorporated, student government]. And that year they were talking about the creation of a Latino Latina center [Latin@/x Center] at our campus, and we were able to vote, and it was a big thing. We've had, only had the Cross-Cultural Center and we had the Women's Center [now Gender Equity Center] at the campus, and the Latinos, or Latinx population wanted a center. And so it was a big, big conversation. And in the end it had, you know, triumphed and we were, it had passed for the creation of Latino Latina 00:15:00center. You fast forward two years later, and I was a president at the time [of Associated Students Incorporated] and there was a huge demonstration. There had been, there's always, or I won't say that there's always, but campuses continue to negotiate diversity and inclusion at their campuses is an ongoing theme across campuses. Not only in California, but across the nation. And at that time, Missouri, which they call a Mizzou University [University of Missouri at Columbia] where it was going through something where racism had occurred on campus toward Black students, but athletes had spoke out about the injustice that was faced on that campus and the president was unresponsive. And so the students had went on protest at Missouri, the student athletes, which is a huge, big deal because at that campus, they had football and that's a big revenue, 00:16:00that the campus was losing by them not performing or not, you know, doing the game. And so you see a lot of other things were happening at that time. And I don't quite remember all of the activities, but something had just happened I want to say at San Jose State University, something had happened at a different university. And the way in which the university treats Black students, welcomes Black students, and invests in Black students was like up in question, across all campuses. And so, as you know, as the student body president at the time, I also was concerned about Black students on our campus and what resources, or lack of thereof, resources for black students was available. At our campus, we do have what's called U Hour, which, from 12 to one [p.m.] on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students for the most part don't have classes. There's not classes 00:17:00resuming at that time. And so it allows for campus life to, for events or for clubs to meet you at that U Hour, University Hours. And so Black, so for BSU [Black Student Union] on Thursdays, of every other Thursday, I want to say, BSU was able to like gather and meet. And if you're able, if you're on campus on a Thursday and on a, and don't have classes and you're able to participate in BSU. But if you didn't, if you either were a commuter student, which a lot of students are, and maybe your classes are Monday and Wednesdays, or if you had a job that you had to go to, or something you're unable to really participate in the BSU because it's like only this time on the hour. So, and for the most part, you don't even see these Black students, you're not [sneezes] excuse me, running into them on campus because we're so spread out. And so when one day, like we 00:18:00were, the university, the campus university was having a, what is it called? An open forum, a diversity open forum about just the campus itself. It wasn't really even a diversity forum. It was just an open forum of the president [Karen Haynes] talking about the state of the campus and some initiatives that were going forward and students had rose up that day and said, hey, what about Black students? What are you doing about Black students on our campus? We're feeling isolated. We aren't having retention rates. We don't have professors and are feeling unsupported. And so when the campus president heard about it, she said, please address a letter to me, I, this is the first time that I'm hearing about this issue. And so that's kind of where I got involved, as the student government lens is that I also had put forth a resolution in support of a Black Student Center, or a resource center to be a hub where Black students can come, 00:19:00no matter the time or the date of, of the hour. Right. But that there would be somebody dedicated to the inclusion of Black students where you can get resources of paper or have dialogues that are hyper specific and culturally competent around this area or this issue.

Sierra Jenkins: What was the initial response when you put that proposal in?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. It was, it was complicated, I guess [laughs] you could say. So, student government at San Marcos is kind of its own institution, its own little bubble. Right. And I had been involved since a representative so by the time my, I was elected for president, it was my third year being involved in student government and the faculty who are, or not faculty, but the staff who 00:20:00are ever-present for us, and students of course come in and wash out. They weren't very supportive of me or my executive board. So we were the first, all-women of color executive board. There's three executives, there's the president, the vice president of student affairs and the vice president of operations, that are all elected and get to sit on the executive committee. And so prior to even this effort, which didn't start until October of the year, and you are elected in, I want to say like April or March of that year, so 2015 March, April is when I'm elected into the presidency. You fast forward to August. And we're trying to talk about what initiatives we have for the year. 00:21:00And I was already thinking, although I didn't express it, that I wanted to look into the issue of a Black Student Center. And besides that was like a food pantry. And I wanted to look into social media. It's weird that social media is, you know, everywhere. It's like normal, but at the time we didn't have social media presence as, as the student government. And so I wanted to establish us, get a Snapchat, get us an Instagram at the time. And so, we're talking about social media, we're talking about events, we're talking about how can student government be more accessible and visible to the students? Because a lot of times we are a great resource and yet students either aren't taking advantage of the resource or don't really know or understand. And so figuring out ways to do that and be connected to the university more. And we were told that we're difficult women, that we should, that, you know, he wished as the executive 00:22:00director that he had, the SAE board back. And SAE stands for Sigma Alpha Epsilon. And they are a like on our campus at least historically white fraternity of males, and that is the brand of student government. At the time was that mostly it's like fraternity guys who get their own friends to vote for them. And that they weren't inclusive of the campus, they weren't representative of the campus. And you know, ASI kind of just did their own thing over there. So I was trying to bridge that gap and was met with a lot of resistance, from the beginning. And so when the Black Student Center came around and was another thing that was seen as unwelcome, it's all I can say. It's like not understood why we need an additional center when we have the Cross-Cultural Center. Two 00:23:00years ago we just had the Latino center. This is kind of just, you know, doing too much. There's not that many of you, why do you need a whole center, right? The argument for the Latino Latin@/x Center was that: we're half the population of this campus, or like a significant amount. We're a Hispanic Serving Institution, at least deemed that through federal government, through the federal side and so it's like we should be serving our students. And so on the opposite side, it's like, we're a small population, but it's necessary in order for the retention and rate of student success for this to be here. And so I would just say that that's kind of how it was. The Black Student Union at the time had some great Black students who were vocal, who were willing to put their story on the line about the isolation that they feel, about the microaggressions that are experienced, and the lack of support, but they weren't organized in a 00:24:00way to understand how, how to speak with the president, how to talk to the vice president, the vice, the Dean of Students, Student Affairs. And so I think that I was able to bridge that understanding of working with the administration to forward our goals, because there are, there were faculty who were supportive of this, that this initiative and idea, and were helping to craft the resolution language and trying to whip up the votes for other students to also buy-in. As the, as a woman of color and executive board, executive board of color, it was great to have that camaraderie within our executive board, but of course the board is much larger than just us [officers] and it gets much more diverse than folks of color. So we knew that it was an uphill battle because there were, I 00:25:00don't remember at the time how many representatives, but of course you got to get, you know, half plus one.

Sierra Jenkins: So it sounds like there was a lot of pushback. So how was it when they approved the Black Student Center? What was that like?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. So it was, it was a huge meeting. So the first, so basically the students, you know, spoke out. The president [Karen Haynes] said that she would look into the issue. But I believe that there was a caveat about going through student government or what does the student voice have to be, say, since we represent. So then I was like: my baton to start, my work. So I started my work as well. Fast forward to February of 2016. The executive director [of Associated Students Incorporated] that I had mentioned before is out on leave. He's no longer working for the student government. We have a new person who just started in February, who is a retired and he went from San Diego State 00:26:00University, and we're at this huge meeting. If you know anything about student government, we don't have a lot of people at our meetings. People are not interested. [laughs] And our meetings, we have them on Fridays, afternoon and our campus is a commuter campus and nobody's on campus on Friday. On that day we moved our meeting from our small room that we had into a much larger room in the USU in the [University] Student Union to accommodate for the amount of folks. Public comment. Was a lot of public comment was happening. There was concerns about some of the language that was in the resolution, the resolution language, and there was process questions about the Student Advocacy Committee and their recommendation to the board. It was like, just a lot of, just a lot. And so you have students that are speaking out to say, we want this, this item to pass and 00:27:00there was other, you know, environmental stuff. And I think even the food pantry [Cougar Pantry] was like that day as well. So just like a lot of agenda items. And so during that time, we had a student who represented the College of Business and Administration, and he was kind of adamantly against this Black Student Center. And so during the open discussion around the bill in which people can make amendments to the language of the resolution if they want or anything, he was basically saying that slavery didn't exist. So, slavery was a part of the resolution for good or for bad. It started at, and any resolution kind of goes big and it goes narrow down to where, whereas this is, for these reasons this. And so he was like, slavery doesn't exist, that the industrial 00:28:00revolution was the reason why we are a great country that we are. And so, you know, it of course is a touchy subject to say the least. And so students were upset and outraged that he made the comment and all of this stuff. But in the end, I think that that comment actually helped propel more than back up for students who were still on the fence, of student government representatives that were on the fence. We didn't know if we had enough votes for the resolution at the time, but I wanted to at least put the issue up. There had been a lot of turmoil within the ASI [Associated Students Incorporated] and just with the students. And so I just wanted to say, okay, it's on the floor, let's have a full discussion about what you'd like to see what you want, than for us to 00:29:00continue to have these like sidebar conversations. And so we went up for a vote and in the end, it passed. I think that student, that represented [College of] Business was the only student who voted against the bill, or the resolution. And so, I mean, it was celebratory, right? It's exciting because, we didn't know what was going to happen and to, to get so far, that initiative had started basically in October when they spoke out to the president. And so to have that, to have that in February, which is a kind of quick deadline, but like not that quick, was great. And it was because students, and myself, and other people were prepared to know how to do our job, with or without a staff helping us to craft language or go through the order.

Sierra Jenkins: That's amazing. It sounds like you put a lot of work into doing 00:30:00this. So we talked about that. So you were definitely a leader on this project. Was there anybody else who you saw as like a great contributor to the Black Student Center and including any unsung heroes that we may not know about?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. So, you know, after, after the resolution was passed that, you know, it doesn't stop there, right. There has to be a flushing out of what, what is the Center going to do? We have established that there's a problem, we've established that we're willing as student voice to put our, our stamp of approval to say that, deem this statewide, or a campus-wide problem. And then so there was a lot, there was then, the president then appointed a task force to study the issue and to come up with a proposal of what the student, what the 00:31:00Black resource name would be, where it would be hosted, what services would it have, and all of that good stuff. And so, as ASI [Associated Students Incorporated], I was able to be the representative there. And then as part of the BSU [Black Student Union], Jamaéla Johnson, who was actually the Vice President of Student Affairs [in ASI] at the time, but was also a really big BSU - I don't know what her office title was in the BSU. But she was a part of BSU. One thing that for me, I wasn't able to be like as an active member. And I think because of the work that I had, aside from campus that Thursday hour was constantly taken away from me or used in some way. But I always tried to stay in contact with whoever the president was and try to do whatever, you know, cross 00:32:00collaborations. I was president of like some other orgs and so tried to like just align efforts, but I wasn't like super involved. So as BSU representative, Jamaéla Johnson was there and we were able to really speak at the table with the administrators of Student Affairs and, I forget everybody who was at the table, but everybody who the president had assigned to this task force to really discuss it. Louis Adamsel, which was, he was really integral and helpful during this process. Brandy Williams was one of the students. Danii Thornton and, I forget her sister's name [Darneisha Thornton]. They both started with a D but the Thorton twins were really helpful in getting the initiative and the voice out, and Dulci Perez who at the time was the Dean of Students was really helpful 00:33:00too. And there was a lot of faculty who were, Sharon Elise was great. Freddy Avalos, another professor that was great during it. Karen Guzman [now Kai Guzman]. The Latino students who, MEChA is the organization that had passed the Latino center resolution. And they came in support and stood alongside Black students as, as we were advancing the idea of a Black Student Center, they were there as well to help, advocate and support and say that this is just as important.

Sierra Jenkins: I love that it was such a community effort. That's really amazing for the Center. What, were you at the BSC's grand opening?

Tiffaney Boyd: Yes, I Was there. So -

Sierra Jenkins: Tell me about it.

Tiffaney Boyd: So what?

Sierra Jenkins: Tell me about it.

Tiffaney Boyd: Oh yeah, sure. So during that issue, so I think that, you know, Mizzou and everything that their president had been fired from the campus, he had actually left their campus, and this was the same time, allowed the president [Karen Haynes] to be like more listening to students. You don't want to be the president who's not listening to students when you're seeing the consequences of that in firing on other campuses, right? And then in February during the same time that, you know, we're pushing in advancing and it's Black History Month, our diversity officer was also let go. Nobody knew why our diversity officer was let go in February but they were also let go. And so that helped kind of propel as well, this angst around diversity. Other students were 00:35:00kind of upset that our diversity officer's gone one day and he was a really good champion for these issues, right. We're talking about, you know institutionalizing some of it. And of course he's only one man. So yes, having a center with somebody else for programming or anything as well, it was important. And so I also just wanted to give that context, just to say that was also like part of the storm that helped create the Center, the birth of the Center. And so the diversity office was also like an unsung hero within that, that also kept students sane and helpful. But so that was that year and we graduated many other students who were a part of it; Jamaéla Johnson, myself had both graduated and moved on in our lives. But excitingly enough, there was space in the [University Student] Union that they were able to retrofit. When we left, we talked about what resources we thought would be important for the [Black] Student Center, and 00:36:00where we identified some places. But it wasn't anything set in stone in that the president [Karen Haynes] got to identify and have the last word on that. And so, fast forward a year and the food pantry [Cougar Pantry] that I had already, that had passed uncontroversially. Which was good, but was controversial before, and this had passed. And so when we got invited back to campus to say that it's actually opening, that there's been identified place in the [University Student] Union, it was, it was much exciting. I was in, I want to say that I had already relocated to Sacramento by this time, which is Northern California. And so I flew back down, and they were just nice enough to give, I guess, space for myself, Akilah Green, who was the diversity and inclusion, I want to say, 00:37:00student representative on the student government. And she had been doing a lot of BSU [Black Student Union] work as well. And Jamaéla Johnson, all three of us were able to come back to campus to see the grand opening, to speak a little bit about our experience and our joy that, you know, to see it to come to life. And it was great because, again, the [University Student] Union was fairly new as we were exiting campus and so to see just how much campus life had grown and how much the Union had became a hub for students to converse. And to know that the Black Student Center was a part of that life, that it wasn't in a corner back by Markstein [Hall], which is where our meetings used to be, but that it was at the corner hub with all of the other centers there, was great to see that there was an identified place, that there was Black faces, like in the same room, and that 00:38:00there was artwork that was reflective and that there was a whole programming and director at the time. And to see it kind of come 360 was great because you always want to hopefully leave something better than what you found it, leave some type of legacy. And I really did feel that if we weren't in the position, if it was some other folks in student government, then I think that they might not have passed the resolution, or it would have been something that was dragged on and maybe unfinished. And I think that the effectiveness of coalition building, of advocacy, of people having different levels of involvement, from either protesting down or from having allies at the Dean of Students, really made it really effective, as well as a national climate that's saying: hey, like, we have to keep paying attention to this, that we can't just let it be some one-off thing, but that, this is something that has been historical since 00:39:00when students weren't even Black students, weren't allowed to be on campuses. Since we built our own Black campuses, right? To see this happen and acknowledged was a really great moment for I think everybody--

Sierra Jenkins: You've mentioned a lot about like, the work you guys put in to see the Center come to life. Can you tell me more about the early focus of BSCs initiatives, programming events and like the focus of the Center itself?

Tiffaney Boyd: Sure. So for us, we thought it was important that there was programming specifically for like uplifting and focusing on Black students and dialogue, Black women. We had like a Gender Equity Center, but a lot of times women of color can fall through the cracks of women's initiatives. And so it was 00:40:00really important that there was programming, that there was printing so that students are able to print for free at the campus center, that there would be like a refrigerator for students to have their have meals refrigerated there, and be a place where people can frequently just come and like, hang out so that if you're in between classes that you can learn or meet other students of Black descent, hopefully, and of course anybody is welcome to come in and learn something. But I think that that was most important that the significance of having both resources there, but also just having a communal space in which folks know that it is a safe place to be where hopefully the microaggressions or the frustrations of campus that you might go through could be a place where, like a safe haven for you to kind of come touch base and then be able to flourish within the campus later. And I think that that was like a part of the 00:41:00focus; have some concrete resources, have one person that's dedicated to programming there, and having culturally competent program and then have just like the physical space of saying like, this is a Black Student Center for you built by you, hopefully hiring students, as well, to shape it, form it, was what we had expected and hoped.

Sierra Jenkins: In your opinion, have they succeeded and, what has been your favorite event that they've had or program?

Tiffaney Boyd: Yeah. You know, it's unfortunate cause I don't really get to reap the benefits or the fruits of the labor. And I know from a distance about what's happening maybe on campus or what's happening with the Black Student Center. But 00:42:00I haven't been super involved since I kind of just like planted the seed. And so I don't know what events that they have done that were really successful or really impactful in the years that I left.

Sierra Jenkins: I'm sorry to hear that. [laughs] This question, I guess you would be able to answer: what has been the impact of the BSU [BSC, Black Student Center] or, you know, petitioning for the BSU on your, on you personally.

Tiffaney Boyd: Can you repeat the question?

Sierra Jenkins: What has been the impact of the BSU [BSC] since you haven't been able to like experience it? What has been the impact of being like a leader, a leading advocate for the BSU [BSC] on you personally?

Tiffaney Boyd: Yeah, I mean, I think it's formative of my whole trajectory of what I do now, to be honest. I currently, well, I guess what I was just doing, 00:43:00but it kind of falls into, I just got a new job. But I'm doing policy and government affairs right now, but I've been doing, I was a legislative aid for four years. And it was during San Marcos at a luncheon, a diversity and inclusion luncheon that Assembly Member Shirley Weber, who represents the 79th district in San Diego, came to our campus to speak around diversity, around change, around all things diversity. And so she spoke there and she talked about her legislation that she was working on. And I said: I want to work for her one day, right? And it's because she advances. She's a Africana Studies Professor, we didn't have Ethnic Studies on our campus at the time. We only had, they were starting a minor, an Ethnic Studies minor. And it was a dabble of if you took, 00:44:00you know, this sociology class or if you took this communications class and you could like kind of work it into being an Ethnic Studies minor. And just working towards issues that matter on our campus and saying, you know what? We don't have this, we should have this, we need this. It's something that could have improved the way that I had experienced the campus. It was great because I now apply that to the policies in which I advanced, and the legislature. And I ended up working for Assembly Member Weber, during my time. And so we were able to via my inexperience, it's almost like what I don't have or what I don't see is what I want to advocate for the most; and so this past year in 202, we established a graduation requirement, and a requirement for all CSU [California State 00:45:00University] campuses to have ethnic studies on their campus and to have a graduation requirement for all CSU students to at least take one ethnic studies course before they graduate. Within the four historically, recognized ethnic studies demographics, which is Native American, Chicano, Latino, Asian, API, and then an Africana or African studies. And so that's a, it's a huge, it was three years. It wasn't just like one and done, but it was impactful for my story, right. So because I advocated for the Black Student Center and all of these things and was a part of seeing how coalition building advocacy, how having folks in power works is it's, I apply that everyday to like legislation as I'm trying to either advocate for ethnic studies or advocate for exonerated folks to have access to housing or, pregnant and, pregnant and parenting pupils in K 00:46:00through 12 and their access to education and not being pushed out. I'm asking folks: hey, like, please, it's unfortunate, but please tell your story to help paint a picture for folks so that they can understand what it is on the ground level. And then we're talking with legislators who have the ability and finance and budget to also say like, you know what we need to invest in this, this costs this much, but this is why this is so important. And so I think that has been super impactful to how I look at policy change, how I look at change in general, and the experiences that I'm having. It's like, it's not so again, so happenstance, right? It's like people aren't in the room where people, we haven't had the right people or the right time and the national climate to take action. We, in Sacramento, a student -- person -- had, Stefan Clark was shot, 00:47:00right. In Sacramento that same year that I'm out here my first year. And he, his cell phone is mistaken as a gun. That year is when we like, ran a use of force bill, right. To say that officers should shoot when it's necessary, not when they're just scared. And it's the same kind of process of getting folks on the ground, getting folks here and there, and putting in positions and then raising it, on a national level, to have that dialogue and the outrage and stuff. And then we can start ushering in more change. And it's unfortunate that that's kind of, it takes so much from so many different angles, but that's almost how it always is in order to best change. And it's just like, are you willing to continue to raise the issue again and again?

Sierra Jenkins: Your work is very inspiring. It's so amazing that you also got 00:48:00to work with somebody you like, nope, I'm going to work with her. Like, that's really amazing.

Tiffaney Boyd: Absolutely.

Sierra Jenkins: So that's actually all I have for you because the rest of the questions are mainly like if you were at the BSC, experiencing it, that kind of thing. But my last question is, are there any questions that I should have asked that I have not?

Tiffaney Boyd: You know, I don't think so. I can't think of any question that you didn't or that I didn't touch upon it. I would just, yeah, I don't think so.

Sierra Jenkins: Okay. So, thank you so much for participating and the Black Student Center Oral History Project. I, we all appreciate it so much and we, thanks. Thanks for being here. I'm gonna stop recording now.

Tiffaney Boyd: Okay.