Oral history interview with Megan Karbley, 2016

Brittany Hedric: My name is Brittany Hedrick and today is Thursday, December 22, 2016. I am in Jackson Library with Megan Karbley, class of 2006, to conduct an oral history interview for the UNCG Institutional Memory Collection. Thank you Megan for participating in this project and sharing your experiences with me. I'd like to start the interview by asking you about your childhood. Could you tell me when and where you were born?

Megan Karbley: Sure, I was actually born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1984 and moved to North Carolina in 1988 when I was little.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, could you tell me about your family and your home life?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, so I grew up in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, just not too far from UNCG. I grew up with mainly my mother and my younger brother, who's about 14 months younger than I am. North Wilkesboro is a small town. Most folks know the area from MerleFest.

Megan Karbley: As a kid my brother and I were really close and I'm a first generation college student, which is contextual in a sense that I always 00:01:00remember my mom talking about, "You're going to go to college, you're going to go to college."

Megan Karbley: So that was a really important part of my growing up even though there was no one in my life who was in college or who had gone to college. I think that really pushed me to excel academically and not in the ... I was never really book smart in a testing sense. I like to read, and I really enjoyed going to school, and for me that was, oddly enough, one of my favorite things as a kid. I hated summer because I loved being at school so much.

Megan Karbley: And so I guess what sticks out in terms of my home life and growing up is really a lot of things related to school and getting really involved. My brother still lives in the area and kind of took a different path. He and I are really, really different. We're actually not close at all, but I've 00:02:00remained close with my mom who is no longer in Wilkesboro but still lives close to Greensboro.

Megan Karbley: Gosh, there's so much to say about growing up. I did a number of things. I was a girl scout, and I was in the band, and really active in high school. I went to the largest high school and I think it's still the case in Wilkes County. We were also one of the only high schools, and I don't know if this is still the case, that had any other race besides white kids at it. So that was really interesting and I think really informed the way that I see the world now in terms of being able to take a different perspective.

Megan Karbley: But now I really pride myself on being a first generation college student, having gone to UNCG, getting my Master's, and now working in higher education. I think for me education has played such a big role to the extent 00:03:00that I'm talking about it when you asked me about my childhood. And I think because I really engaged with learning. It opened up my mind in a way that I think I always dreamed of the world outside of Wilkesboro, you know, what's beyond a 60-mile radius.

Megan Karbley: My mom worked a lot. I remember the first time I went to Winston-Salem, and ate at an Olive Garden, and went to the mall. So I look back at the accumulation of my life. I was one of those kids who ... You know, we went to Walmart and that was like a big deal when I was little to go shopping, or to go to the park, and I love those things but my world got really big really fast. I think looking back that it was my desire for learning and wanting to understand that has led me all over the place. In thinking about my childhood those are the most exciting things, like being in girl scouts or learning to play the clarinet. That stuff really excited me.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, and what did your parents do?

Megan Karbley: When I was growing up my mom worked for a little while at a company called Carolina Mirror, which was in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. And then she went back to school, and actually only about two years ago finished her Bachelor's degree, but worked in home health care for a couple years, and also was a manager of a local convenience store. My dad still kind of bounces around jobs. He's currently a truck driver. When I was little he sold a lot of different things. I remember him selling vacuums, and water treatment systems, and he was a car salesman. He probably had five or six different jobs when I was growing up, and lived pretty close by in Taylorsville, North Carolina.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, and you had one brother?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, I had one brother. My dad did remarry and then I have two half brothers who are about 12 years younger than me.

Brittany Hedric: Okay.

Megan Karbley: Yeah.

Brittany Hedric: I was wondering what your favorite subjects were in school since you enjoyed it so much.

Megan Karbley: Definitely English, reading, writing, social studies, the arts.

Brittany Hedric: Yeah, so where did you go to high school?

Megan Karbley: Wilkes Central High School.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. And so when did you graduate from high school?

Megan Karbley: In 2002.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, and what did you do after that?

Megan Karbley: I moved to Greensboro. I remember being at my high school graduation. Everyone's crying and I was just so excited to be done. I had a great high school experience, but I was ready to go. I actually remember my drive to campus and my mom dropping me off, and she jokes, I mean, I went to Greensboro and I never came back. So I came directly here and then went straight to my Master's.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, so did you apply to any other colleges?

Megan Karbley: I did. I really wanted to go to Carolina actually. I'm not even a 00:06:00basketball fan but that was a school that I wanted to go to. I'd had a guidance counselor who was like, basically the way I took it, "Kids like you ..." and I think what he meant was like basically because you've got a single mom and you guys don't have any money you should probably just stick with community college. And I'm the kind of person if you tell me one thing I'm definitely going to do another. And so from that moment on I was like, "Well I'm going to go to Carolina," because where I was from that was the best place to go.

Megan Karbley: And so I actually applied and didn't get in but my best friend did from high school and she'd only applied because I'd applied. So I came to UNCG. I remember looking at UNCG and UNC Charlotte and I decided on UNCG because it was prettier than UNC Charlotte to me. And I came here, "Well, I'll just be there for a semester and then I'll move, go to Carolina because it's easier to transfer in," and I actually distinctly remember, it was the second week of 00:07:00school and I was like, "I don't want to go anywhere. This is the place that I want to be. This is the school for me," and that was it.

Brittany Hedric: And so you got here in 2002, correct?

Megan Karbley: Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah, in the fall.

Brittany Hedric: All right. Could you tell me about your first days on campus?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, gosh it's so funny that I read the questions beforehand but now actually talking about them I feel like such a weirdo that I remember this stuff. I remember Weekend of Welcome or Week of Welcome, I can't recall exactly what we call it. I had some friends who were already here from high school who were in the School of Music. I remember going over to the School of Music to meet their friends, and standing in the gardens of the UNCG School of Music, and I guess at this point I'm assuming Student Activities did a fireworks show for that Weekend of Welcome. I remember standing in the gardens of the School of Music watching the fireworks thinking, "This is the most magical thing of my life." A lot of my early memories, honestly, are of the School of Music. I ended 00:08:00up rooming with a really good friend of mine from high school. And then in our same residence hall was another good friend who was a second year. She was a sophomore in the School of Music. And so I remember going to performances and meeting her friends.

Megan Karbley: I joined a music fraternity. The first week of school I applied at the Rec Center where I then worked for the next four years and I ended up actually working after grad school in another Campus Rec center. I distinctly remember going to the Rec center to interview for this job as a weight room attendant, the old Rec Center of course, wearing purple corduroy pants or something. I don't know why but I remember wearing purple corduroy pants.

Megan Karbley: I have these little distinct bits of memories from those first two weeks. And again, now knowing what I know about higher education, those are those moments where I was feeling connected to the campus. I remember feeling really welcome at the Rec Center and this was a place I wanted to be, and 00:09:00everyone seemed to be getting along, and I was like, "I want to be with them. I want to hang out with them." Same thing with the School of Music, yeah.

Brittany Hedric: And so what was your major?

Megan Karbley: English.

Brittany Hedric: English?

Megan Karbley: Yeah.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Could you tell me about your favorite class?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, it's kind of funny. So my favorite ... I could not for the life of me remember the name of my favorite faculty in the English department but I remember the classes. I actually remember more faculty in the Communication Studies department where I did end up minoring. I'm exactly sure of the name of it but it's basically a Lit theory class that I took my second year. I remember sitting in the classroom and I couldn't tell you the name of the theory but I remember the concept was essentially that what if authors write books not just for one person to read at one time but to read at several times and the reader's perspective actually influences how the book is understood. I'd never thought of that before in my life. I remember thinking, "Wow, so if I read 00:10:00this book ..." I think at the time I was reading not Grapes of Wrath, the other long book by John Steinbeck, East of Eden, there it is. I was like, "I'm going to read this again in 30 years and maybe I'll understand it differently."

Megan Karbley: So that was one of my favorite classes and again, looking back it was because I had this aha moment. I was learning something and naming a thing. My senior year I took a Women's Lit class and I think that faculty member is still here. She wrote a book and I can't remember her name right now. I think I'll end up telling you more a little bit about my experience in the Com Studies classes, but by my senior year I was sort of like in this awakening. All this new stuff ... I had kind of come out a little bit in my senior year. I was taking all these Women's Studies classes and any of the English classes I could take that overlapped with Women's Studies. I remember that class and that was 00:11:00the first time that I was like, "Yeah, why have I read so many things by men? I want to read stuff by women." I distinctly remember that class, and the people in the class, and how good it felt. I don't think I missed a single class for that particular semester.

Brittany Hedric: And so you never changed majors or anything like that?

Megan Karbley: No. I heard all the rumors. People changed their majors a million times. I knew that I wanted to declare English because I really am bad at math. I remember asking an advisor, "What's the major that I need to have to take the least amount of math?" And English is one of them, and I did well in high school. And so I waited until the end of my second year to declare just to be on the safe side but I never went off track. I ended up ... I almost minored in Spanish because I did spend the summer in Spain. And then I think I technically on paper have a minor in Com Studies. I know I took all the classes.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. What did you do for fun?

Megan Karbley: I worked a lot, I worked a whole lot. You know, part of the first gen thing and I had worked in Wilkesboro at Applebee's. When I first came to college I didn't have a whole lot of bills so working at the Rec Center was sufficient and it was actually a lot of fun. I had three 5:30 AM shifts in the weight room because most freshmen that's what you get is the shifts in the morning. By the second semester I was promoted to a senior supervisor. I don't know if they call it this now but essentially you're a building manager, like a student building manager and that was really exciting for me because the Rec Center was so social. I had this group of Rec Center friends and Rec Center community. My mentor and someone who I still stay in touch with now was working there at the time. So that was honestly a lot of fun for me.

Megan Karbley: By the second semester stuff happened with the car and I ended up getting a car. So then I went back to work at Applebee's on Battleground where I 00:13:00worked until my senior year and then ended up working at Carrabba's. You know, I have friends that will reflect back to me, "Megan, you were always at work," but I have this sense of my entire four years here being an absolute blast. I think I loved being at work and I was okay working all the time because I knew that if I was working I could stay in college and pay my bills.

Megan Karbley: I did get really involved with the School of Music the end of my first year and into my second and third years and would go ... I mean, I lived at Tate Street Coffee. I used to joke that I got my degree there because I couldn't do work at home, and I don't really know what I did there because I don't think I had a laptop. I guess I read a lot, and this was before they had wifi, and it was cash only. There was jazz night so I had a lot of friends. I knew almost everyone who was in the jazz bands who did the performances at Tate 00:14:00Street Coffee or New York Pizza. So I saw a lot of live shows, like UNCG student shows and that was a lot of fun.

Megan Karbley: By my senior year I didn't really interact at all. There's like this distinction between the end of my third year and that summer because that's when I went abroad to Spain in between my junior and senior year. So I was working at Applebee's the first three years, working at the Rec center, involved in the School of Music, and then my last year I ended up working at Carrabba's. That was about the summer-ish, well that was the summer for sure when I came out but I didn't come out to a lot of people, but I continued to work at the Rec Center. And then in my senior year it was two of my friends, Ethan and the other, Jenny. I spent all of my time with them and we would drive around the city for fun listening to Ani DiFranco, go to coffee shops, work. Jenny and I worked together so we would try to line up our schedules so we could work together.

Brittany Hedric: At Carrabba's?

Megan Karbley: Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Brittany Hedric: I used to work there, too.

Megan Karbley: Did you?

Brittany Hedric: Yeah.

Megan Karbley: So much fun, so much better than Applebee's. Applebee's on Battleground was a hoot but I had lots of friends there, too. Yeah, when I think about the fun that I had I always think about working, and I think about spending time with Ethan and Jenny, and listening to music, and literally everything I did I thought was so much fun, going to classes. I don't think I had any classes with Ethan. He ended up working at the Rec Center with me the last year. So we had late shifts. I would teach a spinning class, work my shift, and he was working with me, and then we'd go to a bar that's now not a bar, it's closed, two or three nights a week. That was our routine and it was a blast. I had so much fun.

Brittany Hedric: Did you live in the residence halls or did you live off campus?

Megan Karbley: I lived in the residence halls just my first year. If I were to have a regret that would be one of them. I lived in Grogan Hall. It's one of the three high rises for first year, I guess and second year students on campus. And then after that I moved off campus because my older friends were moving off campus. I work in higher ed now, it's like, "Living off campus is so much better." It's not. I wish I would've stayed. So the last three years I lived down Battleground for two of those years and then just up the road in Spring Garden for one year.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. So while you were living in the residence halls, what did you think of the dining hall food?

Megan Karbley: I think I had sort of ... Again, I work in higher ed, so I think I had the typical first couple of weeks experience. I was like, "This is amazing. I can make waffles anytime I want. There's all the cereal in the world." I was a cereal fiend, and to me it was like everything at my fingertips.

Megan Karbley: When I look back on it I don't remember disliking it with a vehemency that I feel like a lot of students do. And this was back ... I remember closest to Grogan, the dining hall's really close to Grogan, and there was the C store that you could use your dining hall money for and that was cool because then you could just go get chips or something.

Megan Karbley: The EUC had just opened and in fact the front of it was a gravel parking lot. But I don't think I had ... My dining money didn't cover the EUC stuff, I don't know. I just remember what it felt like in the beginning that it seemed really exciting that I had all these options, so that's probably ... I get that positive memory. I'm sure I got tired of it.

Brittany Hedric: Are there any social or academic events that stand out in your mind?

Megan Karbley: The first thing that comes to mind for academics was graduation, my English department graduation. I actually didn't go to the big one. You know, I was the first to graduate from college and it was really important to me that I think that my mom in particular had an experience at my graduation.

Megan Karbley: The English department graduation, I remember it was small, and it was actually in the EUC, and there were four of us who were in an honors' fraternity who were asked to speak. And so I was one of the folks that was asked to speak. I think I had a good GPA, maybe that was why, I really don't remember. So I didn't tell my mom but I'd written her this poem in high school that she'd forgotten about and I read the poem, basically did like an ode to mothers, which 00:19:00I'm kind of shrugging off because it was actually really sappy, and cute, and sad, but read this poem as part of the graduation.

Megan Karbley: And so that for me was such a special time because again, I really loved my classes, and I loved learning here, and even though my mom wasn't in a place to help me financially with school, probably don't want to know how much I'm still paying for my degrees, but she really supported me. I remember the day she sat me down, she said, "Megan, I want you to do anything that you want to do and I will support you no matter what, but if you go somewhere besides Wilkes Community College I probably can't help you very much financially because you won't be at home." And I said, "Okay, I'm just going to go wherever I want." So I think having that experience and being able to appreciate the ways that she did support me emotionally, I really wanted to make her proud and that was really a special time for me.

Megan Karbley: I mean, the social stuff ... I can't think of a particular moment 00:20:00that stands out. My whole experience, I spent five weeks in Spain inbetween my junior and senior year. That whole thing was completely transformational for me for a lot of different reasons but that was five weeks of everything was magical. But those were the two that stand out.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Any involvement in extracurricular activities?

Megan Karbley: Yep, so I'll give you the list. I came to college really not having an idea of what I wanted to do after. I think that was the point, like get to college, get to college, get to college. So I got here and I was like, "Well I just want to do stuff that I like to do." I had always worked. I had applied at the Rec Center because I'd worked at the YMCA back home for a little while so I thought, "Why not?" And navigated that and got that job. So that was also kind of an extracurricular. We did a lot of social activities as a team. And then, so I remember waiting my first semester like, "Let me feel this out 00:21:00and see what I want to do." So my second semester I ended up joining SAI, which is a music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, it's a women's fraternity. I wrote for The Carolinian for about a year-ish I think.

Megan Karbley: My second year I also was enrolled, and this was really transformational for me, I don't know if it's still a course but it was basically a leadership class. The Office of Leadership and Service Learning, which still exists under that name, had basically like tiers of a UNCG leader. And so I enrolled in that or you had to apply, interview and apply, to go on this retreat. And so I did that and then became really involved with Office of Leadership and Service Learning.

Megan Karbley: One of our projects was to, I don't remember exactly what it was, but basically to come up with an idea to unite the campus. I found out through that project that Campus Activities Board had actually not existed since 1992 or 00:22:00the early '90s or something. It was 1990 something. So a group of students and I, through that leadership course, restarted Campus Activities Board. I ended up being the President of Campus Activities Board my junior year. That same year I ended up being the President of SAI, the music fraternity. I was supervisor of the Rec Center. I became spinning instructor at the Rec Center, I went to college sometimes, I think I did more but that's all I can remember right now.

Brittany Hedric: Very busy.

Megan Karbley: Yeah, yeah.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Were there any professors who made an impression on you?

Megan Karbley: Yes. I started taking my second year Communications Studies classes and I had this really great experience with Dr. Carlone, who's still in the Com Studies department. Our course, I think we did 20 or 60 hours of service 00:23:00in Greensboro. I ended up continuing to work on this project independently, and then my senior year worked with him to create an independent study. My project was to create a syllabus for Com Studies 205. Last I checked about four years ago they were still using some of the work that I had done at Higher Ground through, why am I blanking, Triad Health Project. So Dr. Carlone was really ... I met him my sophomore year and then I continued to take his courses and stay in touch with him.

Megan Karbley: Another one was Dr. Natalle, who's also in the Com Studies department. Again, kind of that awakening period of my senior year. Her research area is women in communication and gender performance. She really was, I think, excited for me. Again, looking back I think it was just like, "This student 00:24:00wants to learn these things." So she got really excited about pointing me in different directions for research projects and things like that. Those are the two that still stand out and that I've kept in touch with over the years.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Did you ever feel discriminated against while at UNCG?

Megan Karbley: Not that I remember. You know, looking back, I was thinking about this, when I was in college I thought the world was a pretty great place. That makes me sound like I'm really cynical now, but I think at the time, well I know at the time I wasn't really aware of race in the way that I'm aware of it now. I knew that generally speaking white people, for example, I think my level of knowledge just had it better than folks of color. I didn't come out in the queer 00:25:00community until my senior year and I think I recognized discrimination and I could tell when it was happening to other people but knowing what I know now about the world I'm pretty sure ... I think it would be ignorant of me to assume that at least as a woman, as a first generation, working class person who then came out as queer, I'm sure somebody said or did something to me because I was different or they were fearful, but at the time I had these rose-colored glasses.

Megan Karbley: I thought this was the greatest place in the world and I trusted the community so much. I don't think I was really pushed hard, and I don't think I would call it discriminated, when I came out I was, I mean I still am, but at 00:26:00this particular time I was really feminine presenting. I remember going out with my friend Ethan and other people and the queer women not really talking to me, and I was like, "What is this about? Everybody thinks I'm nice, why don't they talk to me?" I recognize now that I was new to the community, and I was a potential threat, and I think because, and I still do because I pass, that there is privilege in that and I don't think that I was necessarily judged because of that privilege but I think that folks who didn't know me sort of treaded around me. I think I interpreted that as, "Why don't they like me?" Or "Why aren't they talking to me?" But I was unsafe.

Megan Karbley: I had just showed up in this community and what was I going to do? There's a term, "lesbian until graduation," LUG, it was called that. To me that was offensive, but again, looking back I understand why that was going on 00:27:00but that was really the only time that I ever felt like because I was different than the group I was in that I was treated differently. I recognize now that it was a defense mechanism, it was a barrier being put up for their self preservation or those people in the community.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. What about outside of UNCG?

Megan Karbley: Since I left, yeah, but again, I don't remember. Keeping in mind, I grew up in ... North Wilkesboro's not teeny tiny, but it's a small town. And my mom is from the mid-Atlantic. I felt more, and I still do, I feel like more of an outsider there, and to be honest, outside of Greensboro than I ever felt in Greensboro or at UNCG ever. It's probably one of the reasons why I kind of revel in the experience I had here because I had such a safety net. I mean, for 00:28:00me this was the most diverse open place I had ever been.

Megan Karbley: And so, again, now I know that everywhere has its problems and it's not a perfect place, but relative to where I had come from ... I mean, I was pretty fearless in terms of how I expressed myself and the people that I surrounded myself with. I think I saw my friends discriminated against outside of UNCG, especially when I came out, like my more masculine presenting lesbian friends, folks that I had that were not white. I definitely saw that happen outside of UNCG, but again, I think when I was here, relative to where I grew up, I thought it could do no harm, so yeah.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Could you elaborate a little bit on what the environment was like for LGBT community when you arrived here?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, I guess I'll back up a little bit, a little context around my coming out. When I came to UNCG I was one of those people, I had gay friends, like "Oh, I have gay friends." In high school. I remember there was one man at my high school, and one guy at another high school, and there was the only two gay people that anybody knew where I grew up, and they were two of my closest friends. I didn't know any women that were gay. I didn't, to my knowledge, know any trans people, and I surely didn't know anybody who was a person of color and was gay.

Megan Karbley: So when I came to UNCG still very open and had gay friends I had no idea that I was gay. I didn't date anybody, I had crushes on boys sometimes, so I didn't have a sense of the climate like at all. I mentioned before that I 00:30:00did like that leadership class, Office of Leadership and Service Learning.

Megan Karbley: I think in my sophomore or junior year, it must've been my junior year, one of the tiers of being a UNCG leader was going outside of your comfort zone and learning about a community that you didn't belong to. Ethan may have told you this story. I remember emailing the President of Pride, who was Ethan, with my class partner and asked if we could go to a Pride meeting. Told him what we were doing, you know, we were part of this class and this is what we're doing. Is it okay if we come to a meeting? And he emailed back, "Yes, we welcome everyone, please come, please come." So my first Pride meeting was because I was going for a class project. I don't know why I remember what I wore all the time but I wore pink wind pants, I don't know, it was weird that I remember that.

Megan Karbley: So even then I don't think ... I could probably find whatever I wrote about that experience. I don't remember having a lens around what the 00:31:00climate was like. I did realize at that meeting that there was someone in my music fraternity who was at that meeting and I think, again, looking back I think the reason that the reason she didn't really say much to me is because she felt outed because she had never told anybody in the music fraternity that she was gay.

Megan Karbley: I don't know if that's how she identifies now, but I think that was my first sense of, "Okay, why isn't she comfortable in the music fraternity?" I never brought it up to her but I made a point to not, again, this is me not knowing any better, to treat her differently because I wanted her to feel welcome and that I wasn't judging her. But I never directly addressed it with her. I never asked her any questions. So looking back, given that that was sort of my first experience around at least knowing a woman who was queer or had a queer identity I think that there was certainly a lack of comfort at least if 00:32:00not a feeling of unsafety, no idea.

Megan Karbley: And my own experience, I describe that my first three years are really different from my last year. I did stay involved in SAI my senior year and I never came out to anybody in SAI. At the time my reasoning behind it was I've only got one year here left. I was trying to exit that anyway. I was kind of over the organization. That sounds bad. I'd just done a lot and I was ready to not do that anymore. But I never came out to anybody there and I think I was worried. I had this sense because I had been Megan Karbley, the Rec Center, SAI worker person that if I came out that I would just be gay and I didn't want to just be gay.

Megan Karbley: So I basically really came out when I went to grad school because nobody knew me. So I only came out to a few people. Looking back I do think that says something about the climate a little bit. I knew that there were gay 00:33:00people, I'd gone to a Pride meeting. When Ethan and I were here, Ethan was the first queer person on homecoming court. And I think that I also happened to know and befriend basically the queerest person.

Megan Karbley: So there was no in between for me here. I knew Ethan and that was my experience with him, you know, being close to a person who's on homecoming court, and then this person in my music fraternity who never said a word. So I think in some ways I followed her lead around the music fraternity and didn't come out, but I really only came out to a few folks at the Rec Center, so subsequently a couple of folks came out to me after that. But I didn't really get involved as a queer person, I think because I came out later and was worried about that being the only thing people measured me by.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. Well what about now? Do you ever feel that you are defined by others solely by your sexuality?

Megan Karbley: Yes, and I think that that ... Again, it's a quick short answer because I understand that people ... We're programmed to catalog. There's like implicit bias and this one goes there, that one goes there, and presentation.

Megan Karbley: I think particularly when I come home and I'm visiting my mother in Liberty, North Carolina, people don't look at me and go, "Oh, she's gay." They might talk to me and wonder but they don't automatically know, and if they find out I think especially in small towns where folks don't know me that's the thing that they describe me by, like, "Oh Megan, she's gay."

Megan Karbley: And I'll notice, even with my mom sometimes, she feels the need 00:35:00to tell people that I'm gay, I'm like, "Mom, you know that's kind of weird, right?" And I can't quite get some pushback from her because she's like, "Well I'm just proud of you and I want everybody to know." I think as I've navigated the world it's been important for me to come out to people and I'm constantly coming out. Because I work in higher education and I understand the value of students seeing people functioning and doing well in the world and speaking out is important, I out myself.

Megan Karbley: I work in California now and to be honest I had one of my first days at work there was a colleague who was chatting with me, chatty, chatty, chatty, I was being just a little ... I was a little bit uncomfortable because I kind of picked up on maybe he was feeling me out a little bit, like maybe coming on to me, and then I dropped my partner's name at the time and he was like, 00:36:00"Partner?" And I was like, "Yeah, my partner." And he goes, "Oh, partner." And he walked into my office and I've been there for two and a half years. He's never come back in my office again to talk to me.

Megan Karbley: And so yeah, I absolutely feel like people I think see that or hear about that identity first and then that's all that matters to them. And I pass and they could just assume that I'm straight but if I tell them I think that's one of the first things they think of and that still makes me uncomfortable because it's not really fair.

Brittany Hedric: You mentioned Pride. Were you ever involved in Pride after that initial encounter?

Megan Karbley: I don't think so. I don't know if this is still the case but in 00:37:00the student union in the EUC the student organization offices were all in this one room and there's cubicles. I remember when I was in Campus Activities Board Pride's cubicle was really close to CAB's and that was one of the reasons that I knew Ethan because I would see him in there before we became friends.

Megan Karbley: I remember doing some co-programming but by the time I came out, again, because it was my senior year and I was focused on work I really dwindled down what I was doing. I don't know if I even ... I actually can't remember if I even considered joining Pride because I think I was so focused on ... I was doing so much in my junior year that I exhausted myself and I was like, "I really want to try to enjoy this last year as much as I can." And I didn't add anything new to my plate. I think if I'd come out earlier 100% probably would've joined Pride.

Brittany Hedric: Could you tell me a little bit about the political atmosphere 00:38:00on campus during the time you were here?

Megan Karbley: Yeah, I'm trying to think of the culmination of my experiences. Again, it's so interesting, when I think about my own undergraduate experience and now I've worked in higher ed in student life and student affairs for eight years and I've advised multiple Pride organizations, gender exploration clubs, queer women sororities, and I'm seeing ... When I left Tulane University where I worked it was an incredibly political climate, and I worked really closely with students on advocacy around gender, gender marker changes, and name changes on student ID cards.

Megan Karbley: So I've been really involved as a professional and as an educator 00:39:00in political climates, particularly around now gender, sexuality, and race. I wasn't as involved in those things as an undergrad. Again, I think if I look at my own development as a white, cisgender, working class person I think my biggest barriers were being working class. I have a lot of memories about feeling like I had to perform, so to speak, the way that my friends did because I assumed that they had money and I needed to perform along those lines.

Megan Karbley: So I think in terms of the political climate I don't have a good sense of what was going on because for me at the time I didn't know what to advocate for. I didn't know what needed advocating for because class was not something ... I mean, now the institution I'm at, we talk about all the time but even at the time UNCG prided itself on its first gen student admission. This was 00:40:0010 years ago. There wasn't a first-year experience office and nobody asked me about my experience as a first gen student. It wasn't until I got to grad school that I realized that colleges were really way behind in providing support to first gen students navigating the campus, literally and physically speaking, navigating financial aid.

Megan Karbley: When I was at UNCG I just thought I had to do it all myself and I didn't know better to be more involved or to advocate. And I'm, again, based on what I know now, I'm assuming that somebody who works here was thinking of that because clearly 10 years later there's lots, I think, of system in place to support students. But it wasn't something that was talked about like race, or sexuality, or gender. Class was not something that you discussed and I went along with it and I racked up credit card debt and anytime my friends asked to go somewhere if I didn't have money I would say, "No," but if I felt a lot of pressure I would just go and use my credit card because I saw other people using 00:41:00a credit card. I learned later that their parents were paying for it, that sucked, rather than themselves.

Megan Karbley: I'm grateful for the experience that I had but again, looking back I assumed that's what everybody did. I had no idea that there were other kids, other students that were struggling like me and could advocate for better advising, more direction with financial aid. There's still stuff now that I'm learning about financial aid. I just had no idea. I got my first bill in one lump and almost had a panic attack because I just kept, "I'll pay it off. I'm going to get this great job."

Megan Karbley: There was so much I didn't know because I didn't know what questions to ask and I think that for me ... I don't know what that says about the political climate at UNCG but that was a big standout for me after I left and got more involved in advocacy for students. That was something I looked back 00:42:00and I was like, "Wait, where was my undergrad in this?" And maybe I somehow slipped through the cracks. I doubt it because I'm pretty resourceful but I think that's something that seems to really have evolved since I left, at least based on the website and the magazine from what I can tell.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. How have larger issues in the nation like the Supreme Court ruling in favor of same sex marriage, or the most recent Presidential Election of 2016, how have those affected you and possibly HB2? I know you don't live here but you might could talk about that a little, too.

Megan Karbley: Yeah, so I left North Carolina the summer that I graduated from UNCG, so in 2006, and I haven't lived here since. I lived in Ohio, and I lived in New Orleans, and now I live in California, and I'll start broadly. I do a lot of defending North Carolina a lot, especially in California because we're lumped 00:43:00in with the South, and I think for me what's important ... and I was fine, I was like, "Oh, I'll leave. I'm going to go somewhere else," and there's a lot of things that are, for example, in California especially that are very progressive, but I have actually ... Every time I've moved, from North Carolina, to Ohio, to New Orleans, to California. I've actually applied for jobs at UNCG or in the Greensboro area because I want to come back so very badly. Apparently the universe thinks I need to not be here for a while.

Megan Karbley: Especially now though, I'm kind of at the end of my time in California. I have a really great job, and I love what I do, but I want to have a family and I want to have it at home. And so especially during the presidential election or the results of the presidential election, you know, I was grateful to be in California during the election. Of course, there were 00:44:00folks who had different views than me but it was really difficult and I have friends who live in North Carolina calling me for support, like, "I just need to talk to somebody." I do worry about, like if my rights are going to be taken away and I try not to pay so much attention to the hypotheticals and all the news outlets about overturning the Supreme Court's decision for same sex marriage. I mean, it seems like that would take a long time, but if for some reason I'm not able to get legally married then it's like, "Wow, North Carolina might be a pretty tough place to not be legally married."

Megan Karbley: You know, when I watched from afar the ban on same sex marriage in North Carolina I actually cried that day. I think I was so sad for my friends here and for the state because I do really love it here. I grew up hating where I grew up but the bigger my world gets the more I'm able to appreciate what is 00:45:00here, and the people that are here, and the work, and the advocacy that is done politically here. Around marriage in particular, I was in North Carolina on the day that it was passed, and that was really special for me, and I really love that because I had always wanted to ... I would like to be married and I always wanted the option to get married and I always said, "I want to get legally married ... if I'm going to get married I want to get legally, like actually married in North Carolina." So watching North Carolina's ban on it several years ago, then the Supreme Court decision, which of course overturned that, and then now having that be threatened again. To be really honest, I go, "Gosh, that's really scary."

Megan Karbley: I'm trying not to base my decisions about coming back here on it because my family is here and they're all on the East Coast. I have people asking me, "Well how would you move to North Carolina?" And I'm like, "Well I'm 00:46:00only going to live in Greensboro or Durham or Nashville. My mom's like, "Well you could stay with me or you could live with me." I'm like, "Mom, I don't feel safe." And I don't know if that's because I've been gone so long and maybe the attitudes about the South are infiltrating or because I'm watching from afar the way that people's rights are threatened.

Megan Karbley: And with House Bill 2, I've mentioned my friend Ethan, Ethan's trans and he's out, and I've been with him through that transition and by his side, and learned a lot the hard way, but he and I both want to come back to North Carolina. Since we were in college we had these fantasies like, "Well go back to North Carolina and we're going to raise our babies in the same neighborhood," but at this point the thought that a bearded mountain man looking guy, which is how Ethan looks, can't use the men's bathroom. It's a real threat 00:47:00to one of his basic needs.

Megan Karbley: And so I do think a lot about the political climate here and I've tried to stay connected to it because I do want to come back. I'm certainly in a place now where I can ... If I was going to stay in California I'd be like, "Oh, that really sucks." But I am engaged in it because it will eventually directly impact me. And so yeah, I think about all of those things.

Brittany Hedric: Well overall do you think of UNCG as an inclusive and accepting environment?

Megan Karbley: Yes. I think not only based on my own experience but the experience of the people that I'm close with who went to UNCG, and what I read, and what I see 'cause I pay attention to what's going on. I think that UNCG is an institution that is willing to struggle with itself, to say, "Okay, yeah, we 00:48:00could do better at that." I'm proud that UNCG is proud that they enroll so many first gen students and are doing a really good job and are still growing and expanding that part of their support. It seems like they're taking into consideration not only class but race because sometimes, well all the time, not sometimes, those are intrinsically combined for a lot of reasons, and willing to look at how to help students be successful while being inclusive of their race but also having an education that helps challenge them in a way that helps students grow.

Megan Karbley: I don't think it's perfect but I think if an institution, and I feel like UNCG has done this, is willing to say, "Yeah, maybe we could do that better. We see you students. We want to be an institution that continues to 00:49:00support all kinds of students." Yeah, I think it's an inclusive place. I actually got into a PhD program here and ended up going to California. I would come back to school here for a lot of those reasons.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, so you did enjoy your time here.

Megan Karbley: Yes.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, and could you elaborate a little bit on what you did after you graduated from the Master's program? I know you said you moved around a lot but-

Megan Karbley: Yeah, so I went directly from undergrad to graduate school at Ohio University and I did my Master's. I have a Master's of education and college student personnel, which is student services with a counseling focus. I did that for two years at Ohio and then from there went to New Orleans and I worked at Tulane University for six years. I actually did my graduate assistantship in Ohio in campus recreation.

Megan Karbley: I worked in campus rec until I was 26, essentially doing what UNCG did for me. I wanted to be my boss. I wanted to mentor people. I recognized that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do in higher ed so I've been an academic adviser, I've worked in a student union and facilities, and throughout that time advised student organizations like LGBT sorority organizations and helped with policy change and advocacy, and I'm currently the director of student conduct at a small liberal arts institution in the East Bay of California. So I did this windy path and I now adjudicate anything from an alcohol violation, alcohol or drugs, to Title IX and work on Title IX compliance.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. How have you been involved with UNCG since you graduated?

Megan Karbley: I've been to one homecoming and it was the year after I left, and 00:51:00every year I open up all me emails and all my letters and wish I could come but as an educator it's almost always in the fall. We're having our own homecoming so I can never come back. So I would say the majority of my involvement, because I've been far away, is reading the emails. I'm one of those nerds who reads the magazine when I was getting that. Every time I move I update my address with the Alumni Association, which I think Ethan's the only other person I know that does that.

Megan Karbley: And most recently we actually ... I'm hoping to actually apply for a position within the alumni board because I'd really love to get involved that way. I've gotten calls for money and I ended up turning the conversation around by talking to students about their experience on the phone because I don't want to be rude or dismissive because I had friends who worked in the call center, and I'm still paying the federal government a lot of money.

Megan Karbley: So I would like to be in a place where, I don't know when it will happen, but I'm able to give back to the institution financially in some way. If not to go around campus and pay students' parking tickets because I got so many parking tickets here, just like a little something. Again, I mentioned before I do want to come back to Greensboro, so I would love to advise a student organization if I'm not working at UNCG but that's the goal is to work at UNCG and become involved in the actual learning of the institution.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. What were proudest accomplishments during your time here?

Megan Karbley: Definitely that graduation piece that I told you about. That stands out. This may sound really cheesy that I'm going to name awards but I don't get a lot of awards and actually as an undergrad ... because I've always 00:53:00been academically ... I went to a school where you got awards for academics, and I've always been smart but not testing smart. So when I came to UNCG I think that was the first time that I was recognized for doing a lot of different stuff and doing it well.

Megan Karbley: So I earned a leadership scholarship, the James H. Allen Scholarship Award, my junior year and that was a huge honor and I was really proud and my mom came. Ironically Ethan got it the year before me. We had these parallel lives at UNCG before we were friends. And then at the Rec Center there was a really high award that one student would get and I got that before I left. The theme for me was being involved, and caring, and connecting to this community is something that the community itself values and wants to recognize. That's sort of how I saw the invitation to speak at graduation. So those things I'm really proud of.

Megan Karbley: I think the other big one is really Campus Activities Board. That is part of what opened my eyes to higher education as a field. The staff member that I worked with at the time, Derek Friday, he was really a mentor in the field. I had no idea at the time what we were doing. We were starting a Campus Activities Board, which there's a conference board across the country. My world was Wilkesboro and UNCG. I had no concept that it was something that could connect future students to opportunities outside of the university in the future. So I'm really proud to have had a small part in that as well.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. How do you feel about the new chancellor?

Megan Karbley: I was trying to do a little research so I read when he got here. I actually went through and looked at the strategic plan and where we are in the strategic plan, and the way that he talks about the institution. I'll be really 00:55:00honest and upfront, I think it's really important and I'm really proud that UNCG ... You know, I was here ... Why am I blanking? The Chancellor was-

Brittany Hedric: Brady.

Megan Karbley: Before that, Sullivan.

Brittany Hedric: Linda Brady, yes.

Megan Karbley: Patricia Sullivan.

Brittany Hedric: Yes.

Megan Karbley: And she was like the mayor. She would walk around campus and wave at students. And so that was my experience, so I don't know what it's like for students. I heard some things about Brady because I knew people who still worked here, but Gilliam is the first one ... No one works here that I know so I don't have that connection. So looking at the strategic plan, and to finish my earlier sentence, I'm sorry I got off track, I think it's important that we have a man of color as our chancellor. I think that sends a message to the students.

Megan Karbley: You know, every other institution that I've worked at has had, with the exception of UNCG when I was here, every single one has had a white man. And so I think that is important and I think that particularly my work in student conduct, I understand that the black men make up the smallest percentage of students in higher education. We don't have to go into it but there are reasons why that is systematically.

Megan Karbley: On the other hand, what I'm learning through my work in student conduct is those are the students who are also most likely to be suspended or expelled for violations of student misconduct when their white counterparts may have the same violations. They're more likely to be expelled. That kind of sounds like prison. Anyway, not going down that path but all of that to say that I think that it's important that men of color, in particular, see other men of color in leadership positions.

Megan Karbley: In looking at the strategic plan and his understanding of the institution today, it resonated with me as an alumni and my experience, and I think the plan's in phase six or seven, in terms of its iterations and there's a lot of work, he seems really invested in the work to enroll first generation students and remain one of the most affordable educations in North Carolina, and provide an education that prepares students to give back to the relatively local economy. I think that that's essentially what I know and so if there's anything else I just haven't read or seen anything about it so I like that. I'm impressed with that.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. How has attending UNCG impacted and affected your life and what does UNCG mean to you?

Megan Karbley: Gosh, that's a really big question. You know, on some level, one of the things I've learned about myself, and I think I shared this earlier, I'm a learner. I like understanding, not just knowing, not just taking information and holding it but understanding how it interacts with other information, how people interact with other people. And I think that's always been true for me.

Megan Karbley: When I came to UNCG, and maybe an education anywhere else would have done this for me, I don't know, UNCG lit that part of me up. I remember being in a com theory class going, "That's what that's called?" I had no idea that what I thought was actually ... There was a name for it, and a lot of college students go through those realizations, but I think the place, the physical space of UNCG, the communities that I built through my on campus 00:59:00employment and involvement, and the leadership experiences, I think that compounded to create the sense of belonging for me. UNCG at the time was like 16,000 undergrad, and I felt important. I think that was good for me. I felt important and like I could get lost in the sea of people. I didn't have to stand out. I could just be part of something bigger. UNCG really afforded me that, and I think as I look back over the course of the last 10 years that's where I learned how to be part of a community. I didn't really think about community really when I was in high school, not to the capacity that I was challenged to think about it at UNCG or do now and I think UNCG really, through service learning outside of the university, really taught me how to do that and how important that was.

Megan Karbley: And so I think that has shaped the kind of educator that I am. I often compare myself to the mentors and the educators that I had here because I think if what they did for me is something that I can do for another person, whether it's providing support or providing challenge to a student, I kind of measure myself up the the people who were here, and some of them may be still here. So I think that is part of what it means to me. What was the second part of the question?

Brittany Hedric: How it has impacted you and affected your life and what it means to you.

Megan Karbley: I think in the bigger picture, I mentioned I've actually always tried to come back here, and sometimes really struggle with, "Gosh, why can't I get back to UNCG?" Before I moved to California I'd gotten into a PhD program 01:01:00here but I couldn't go full time. I needed a job, but I got into the program before the job, and was applying for jobs all over the place, and not just UNCG but most of them were here because I really wanted to work here. And man, let me tell you, I felt a lot of rejection not being able to get a job at the school working in a field ... basically like that I couldn't get a job at the place that taught me how to do what I do.

Megan Karbley: I'm looking at a position now that I am planning on applying for and I think the influence that it's had on me is I want to go back there but I think in some way the universe is like, "You need a little bit more time, Megan," because it's not that I want to recreate my undergrad experience. I've learned enough about higher education that institutions are bureaucracies, right? Part of that is that I think that I have this fervor for helping students navigate that, and I would love to do that here. It's influenced me so much that 01:02:00this is the place that I want to be because I have this sense of duty, I don't really like the word, but maybe responsibility to give back to the institution in a really hands on way.

Megan Karbley: So it's continued to influence me to the point where out in California I'm like, "How am I getting back to UNCG?" And people are like, "Where's that?" And I'm like, "It's in North Carolina. It's like the best school." So yeah, I think that's how it's influencing me because it's still the end goal. I left and I've been gone. I've done amazing things and worked at ... New Orleans, that's a separate interview, but I've had this amazing experience and now I'm just like, "I want to go back, I'm ready to come back." And so I think that's how it influences and interacts with my life now.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, well we're doing these interviews as part of the 125th anniversary of the university, which is an excellent opportunity for reflection 01:03:00and it also gets us thinking about where we're heading in the future. What do you think the future is for UNCG? Where do you see UNCG going as an institution in the next 25 to 50 years?

Megan Karbley: You know, I do pay, as you probably picked up on, most attention to support and services for first gen students. As an alum and an out queer person looking at like how is UNCG being inclusive of queer students, particularly transgender students and students of color. And so those are the things that peak my interest that I'll kind of dig around about when I'm looking at what's going on.

Megan Karbley: So again, I was looking at the strategic plan for this interview and hopefully getting a job interview, it seems, at least on paper, I know that action is a difference from that, but at least on paper there's a plan to help 01:04:00those departments that ultimately interact with the students both academically and co-curricular that lead in that direction to be as inclusive as possible to provide the support and services to students, and not only first gen, first time, freshmen but first gen graduate students. I mean graduate school if you're a first gen, it's the first time you've gone. I went to grad school out of state and had no idea I'd have to pay out-of-state tuition for example.

Megan Karbley: How are we recruiting students from Small Town, USA who are LGBTQ and what is it like when they're getting here? Because my experience, I knew two gay people. I knew two gay people in my home town. That probably wasn't actually the case, but at an institution like UNCG that I think really does allow students to flourish, I think what I'm seeing is the university looking in a 01:05:00direction where it's asking questions about how can we create space to provide students the chance to explore and open up because if they explore and they feel like they fit here they'll stay here which means that's more money, that's higher graduation rates, which means higher enrollment and a better student.

Megan Karbley: So that's what I'm seeing in documents and online and I think that's the goal. I think it would be cool if UNCG ... Like I mentioned I wanted to go to Carolina. UNCG for me is eons beyond that. I never went to Carolina but because there's, I don't know, I think that there's this level of acceptance, not in the literal college acceptance sense, but the general one that UNCG offers. I don't know. Supporting first gen students, LGBT students, students 01:06:00from different racial identity groups. I really see UNCG really pushing to be really inclusive and not just getting students here but providing a network here for them once they get here rather than just using it as a recruitment tool.

Brittany Hedric: Okay, well I don't think I have any more formal questions for you but did you have anything you'd like to add about your time here or any other experiences you would like to mention?

Megan Karbley: I don't think so. I'm kind of wondering if I should've included more about my childhood, I don't know, I just got so excited to talk about UNCG that I didn't. I don't think so. I really appreciated the chance to do this interview and talk about it and reflect.

Brittany Hedric: Yeah.

Megan Karbley: Yeah.

Brittany Hedric: Okay. All right well if there's nothing else I'll hit the stop button.