The Machine is a secret society at the University of Alabama. In 1914, it formed from the Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon as a coalition of Panhellenic sororities and IFC and NPHC fraternities. The group, which has operated in varying degrees of secrecy since 1914 (though its roots run deeper into the 19th century), is credited with selecting and ensuring the election of candidates for Student Government Association, Homecoming Queen, and other influential on-campus and off-campus offices, including the Student Government Association Senate.
It was evidently first publicly noted as "a political machine" in 1928 by Alabama's campus newspaper, The Crimson White.[1] Then in a 1945 article in the newspaper, it was referred to as "the machine",[2] and the name has stuck ever since. It is alleged that The Machine plays a real role in both the politics of the student community and in the political careers of numerous Alabama politicians.[3]
History
The Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon was founded at the University of Alabama in 1888 without formal permission of the society. In 1902, the chapter contacted the fraternty's governing authority and was accepted as a legitimate chapter. It was subsequently accepted by the administration and university community, and in 1905, the chapter hosted its first annual promenade, which was a successful public event.[4]
In 1909, on February 14, The Alpha Rho chapter created a new society, this one for members of the senior class, called The Skulls.[5] The Skulls replaced the Theta Nu Epsilon chapter. Both the earlier and later organizations were publicly recognized by the university, and appeared each year in the university yearbook. The Skulls was considered a legitimate student group until 1922. The organization officially ceased to exist at that time.
Esquire devoted its April 1992 cover story to an exposé of The Machine.[6] By their own estimates, Theta Nu Epsilon claims to have a "voter block of 8,000 students."[7]
Controversies
Machine opposition
Over the years, numerous campus political groups have been formed in an attempt to motivate independent students to vote for non-Machine candidates. While a law student, future Congressman Carl Elliott of Vina, Alabama, ran for the high-profile position of president of the student government. With the support of the growing number of out-of-state students and women, Elliott became the first person to defeat the Machine. In 1936, Elliott completed his term as SGA president and graduated with his law degree. The University Party was formed by Ed Still and Jack Drake in 1967. Drake lost the SGA Presidency to Ralph Knowles and Still lost to Joe Espy.
An anti-machine group called "The Coalition" formed in 1968 and operated through 1972. This was a joint effort by the men's dormitories, small non-machine fraternities, International Students Association, women students, and the Afro-American Association. It was formed by Steve Windom (later lieutenant governor), Tommy Chapman (later district attorney), Steve "Red" Wadlington (later political campaign operative), Don Gilbert (later head of Alabama Trial Lawyers Association) and Jim Zeigler (later public service commissioner and a member of the Mallet Assembly). The Coalition succeeded in 1969 in electing Joe Estep as vice-president over the Machine's George Culver. It elected Henry Agee as secretary-treasurer over the Machine's Phil Reich. In 1970 it elected Zeigler as president of SGA as an independent.[8] It also elected Windom to the Student Senate and almost 50% of the Student Senate in 1970–71. In 1972 the coalition senators led by Fred Benjamin got the SGA to recognize and fund the Afro-American Association. Benjamin co-won Senator of the Year award along with a machine senator. He lost election for vice president of the SGA later that year.
Another anti-Machine group was the Alabama Student Party (ASP), which was founded by SGA Senators Fred L. Gibson, Jr. and O. Kevin Vincent in 1985. ASP intended to run a full slate of independent candidates, but its efforts were temporarily thwarted when the Machine orchestrated a takeover of ASP by flooding its first general campus meeting at Ferguson Center with fraternity pledges and members and electing Neal Orr, a freshman member of a fraternity (Delta Tau Delta) that belonged to the Machine, as its president. Orr's fraternity was also the fraternity of the then SGA President, George Harris. Control of ASP was then subsequently retaken by independents later in the year, and it then played a pivotal role as a force for independents in upcoming elections. ASP successfully challenged the Machine with the election of John Merrill, an independent, as president in 1986, as well as a number of SGA senators. Merrill was opposed by the Machine when he ran for SGA Senator, had been backed by the Machine for vice president in 1985, and was then opposed by the Machine for president in 1986.
The Alabama Student Party subsequently was involved in the federal court case of Alabama Student Party v. Student Government Association of the University of Alabama, 867 F.2d 1344 (11th Cir. 1989).
The Mallet Assembly, originally a men's honors program founded by Dean of Men John Blackburn in the early 1960s, is traditionally opposed to Machine influence, and has campaigned for several candidates under the banner of the "Blue Door Party". Jim Zeigler, who defeated The Machine in 1970 for SGA President, was a member of the Mallet Assembly and actually lived in old Mallet Hall, where his room was burned in 1971.
One of the most controversial elections took place in 1976, when Cleo Thomas, an African-American student and member of an historically black fraternity, was elected to the SGA presidency with the support of the Mallet Assembly and a coalition of several sororities. In 1979, the Machine weathered an internal disagreement about who should be the Machine-endorsed candidates, which resulted in three fraternities electing to leave the Machine to run their own candidates.[9]
In 1989, independent Joey Viselli lost a very close election for president to a candidate who was reportedly the first-ever Machine-backed female candidate for the office. Many people, including Tuscaloosa County election workers assisting with the election, believed there were definite irregularities. Viselli took a challenge of the results to the administration, which ruled against a new election, but did remove future student elections from student control. Later that spring, Viselli was elected president of the Residents Hall Council after a challenge by James Adams, a freshman member of a fraternity (Delta Tau Delta) that belonged to the Machine. Viselli's father Fran was a popular community figure who was the founder and owner of Bama-Bino's Pizza in the Tuscaloosa area. It has been widely believed that the Machine initiated a retaliatory boycott against Bama-Bino's following the election which, when combined with new competition, soon led to the closure of all Bama-Bino's.[10]
1992 and suspension of the SGA
In 1992, Phi Mu sorority member Minda Riley (daughter of former Alabama Governor Bob Riley) ran against Machine-backed candidate and Beta Theta Pi fraternity member Neil Duthie. In that election, Minda Riley made claims of harassment and physical assault, even though she belonged to a Machine-aligned sorority. Following the physical assault of Riley, resulting in her fleeing campus, the university nevertheless suspended the Student Government Association altogether, and did not reinstitute it until 1996. Minda Riley's brother Rob Riley was elected president of the SGA as a Machine candidate.[citation needed]
In 1999, African American Fabien “Fab” Zinga, a candidate for the SGA presidency, claimed that he was personally threatened and that his campaign signs were defaced. CNN covered the story, with references to the alleged history of intimidation attributed to the Machine.[11][12][13][14]
Prior to the 2002 SGA election, the phrase "Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine" from Henry David Thoreau's essay "Resistance to Civil Government" was chalked on the outer wall of the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. This caused a group of students, calling themselves "The Counter-friction," to interrupt then university president Andrew Sorenson's epidemiology class while chanting words of protest against The Machine.
Internet voting debuted in 2003, but the results were ruled invalid after allegations of fraud and the election was repeated with paper ballots the following week. During the next election in 2004 SGA senate candidate Emeline Aviki, a member of Chi Omega who openly refused to be affiliated with the Machine, detailed the alleged harassment she received for the Crimson White, which used it for an exposé entitled "You don't want to mess with us." Though Aviki's campaign was successful, "the emotional and psychological toll the event caused" led her to transfer to Duke University,[15] where she went on to serve as class president.[16]
Allegations of interference in Tuscaloosa municipal elections
Controversy surrounding The Machine reemerged in August 2013, when sororities and fraternities were mobilized to elect two former SGA presidents, Cason Kirby and Lee Garrison, in closely contested municipal school board races.[17] Before election day, questions about illegal voter registration were raised when evidence emerged that indicated eleven fraternity members fraudulently claimed to be living in a single house in a specific school district.[18] And on election day, leaked emails suggested that sorority/fraternity members may have been provided incentives to vote—including free drinks at local bars.[19] As a result of possible voter fraud, Kirby's and Garrison's opponents refused to concede,[20] and University of Alabama faculty have questioned whether The Machine has corrupted the democratic process in the City of Tuscaloosa.[21][22]
Election of Elliot Spillers
In 2015, independent student Elliot Spillers was elected to the presidency, beating the Machine for the first time since Merrill. His election was followed by political stagnation, including the Senate initially blocking the confirmation of his chief of staff, Chisolm Allenlundy, before the administration forced the confirmation.[23] The incident was reported in a few media outlets, and calls again came pressuring the university administration to take action against the organization.
Election of Jared Hunter
In 2017, the Machine backed an African American, Jared Hunter, for SGA President for the first time in its history. Hunter acknowledged his support from the Machine in an op-ed for the Crimson White during campaign season.[24] Despite calls for his withdrawal over the article, as well as allegations of campaign finance violations,[25] Hunter won the election and subsequently served until his resignation over a DUI arrest in early 2018.[citation needed]
Delta Kappa Epsilon (ΔΚΕ), commonly known as DKE or Deke, is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fifteen sophomores who were discontented with the existing fraternity order on campus. The men established a fellowship where the candidate most favored was "he who combined in the most equal proportions the Gentleman, the Scholar, and the Jolly Good Fellow."
The University of Alabama is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public universities in Alabama as well as the University of Alabama System. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
The University of Alabama System is a public university system in Alabama that coordinates and oversees three research universities: University of Alabama (UA), University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville. These universities enroll more than 70,000 students. The system employs more than 45,000 employees at its three campuses and health system making it one of the largest employers in the state.
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Chi Omega is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities.
Phi Mu (ΦΜ) is the second oldest female fraternal organization established in the United States.
The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is an umbrella organization for 26 national and international women's sororities throughout the United States and Canada. Panhellenic refers to the group's members being autonomous social Greek-letter societies of college women and alumnae.
Theta Phi Alpha (ΘΦΑ), commonly known as Theta Phi, is a women's fraternity founded at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor on August 30, 1912. Theta Phi Alpha is one of 26 national sororities recognized in the National Panhellenic Conference. Today, Theta Phi Alpha has 54 active chapters across the United States. Theta Phi has alumnae clubs and associations in almost every major city. The organization is involved in the philanthropies Glenmary Home Missioners and The House that Theta Phi Alpha Built which help the homeless and underprivileged, specifically in the Appalachian Mountain region, and Camp Friendship, a summer camp in northeast Mississippi for children from disadvantaged and low-income homes.
The Crimson White, known colloquially as "The CW," is a student-run publication of the University of Alabama published twice a week under The Crimson White Media Group. Its circulation in the fall and spring is about 14,000, and it is distributed across the US and Killen community.
Big Al is the costumed elephant mascot of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Alpha Epsilon Pi (ΑΕΠ), commonly known as AEPi, is a college fraternity founded at New York University in 1913. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Israel, and has initiated more than 110,000 members. Although the fraternity is based upon Jewish principles, it is non-discriminatory and is open to all who are willing to espouse its purpose and values regardless of their particular faith tradition.
The 1897 Alabama Crimson White football team represented the University of Alabama in the 1897 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team was led by head coach Allen McCants, in his first season, and played their home games at The Quad in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In what was the sixth season of Alabama football, the team finished with a record of one win and zero losses.
Phrateres is a North American philanthropic-social organization for female college students. Although founded at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1924, it currently only has one chapter, located at the University of British Columbia.
Pi Lambda Sigma (ΠΛΣ) was an American collegiate sorority for Catholic women. It merged with Theta Phi Alpha in 1952.
In North America, fraternities and sororities are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sororities to differentiate them from traditional not (exclusively) university-based fraternal organizations and fraternal orders that have historically acted as friendly societies or benefit societies to certain groups unlike the ones mentioned in this article.
Jim Zeigler is an American lawyer and politician who served as state auditor of Alabama from 2015 to 2023. Before becoming state auditor, he served on the Alabama Public Service Commission from 1974 to 1978.
↑ Beadle, Nick (March 10, 2004). "You don't want to mess with us". The Crimson White. Retrieved June 6, 2011. Despite all her accomplishments, Aviki said the emotional and psychological toll the event had upon her led her to enroll at Duke University after last year's elections, well after the application deadline.
↑ Wojciechowska, Iza (March 28, 2005). "Stronger programs top Aviki's Agenda". Web: The Chronicle. Retrieved April 24, 2018. After only two years at Duke, Aviki has climbed to the positions of junior class president, Persian Student Association vice president and DSG assistant vice president of athletics and campus services, among others.
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