UA to review election of new Machine-backed SGA president

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Office of Student Conduct will review potential violations in its Student Government elections following a referral from the school’s Elections Board this week. The allegations surround recently elected SGA President Jared Hunter, who publicly admitted to being backed by a secret society commonly known as The Machine.

According to the University’s newspaper, The Crimson White, the elections board received a number of “significant complaints” associated with Jared Hunter’s campaign. Before his victory over incumbent Lillian Roth and Gene Fulmer, Hunter’s campaign was found guilty of overshooting the strict campaign finance limits before election day and had a blackout imposed for several days.

Hunter admitted being backed by the Greek-controlled Machine in an editorial on The Crimson White’s website. The Elections Board also acknowledged The Machine when it issued a summons asking students to come forward with any knowledge they have about the group.

For over a century The Machine has held almost total sway over Greek life and the SGA on UA’s Tuscaloosa campus. Propped up by the school’s historically white fraternities and sororities, Hunter is the first African-American to receive its presidential backing.

The so called “secret society” has been the topic of a cover story in Esquire magazine. It’s been featured in the New York Times. It’s been accused of election-rigging, voter fraud and intimidation. It was even blamed by some for the SGA being shut down for several years in the wake of harassment and assault allegations in the early 1990s.

But it’s also been responsible for electing UA SGA Presidents who have gone on to become some of the most well-known and successful leaders in Alabama history.

Here’s a partial list:

1915-16 Lister Hill, the first UA SGA President, became a United States Senator
1920-21 Joseph W. Sewell played for the New York Yankees with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
1923-24 John J. Sparkman became a United States Senator
1928-29 Albert Boutwell, Sr. became the Mayor of Birmingham
1935-36 Hugh Davis Merrill, Jr. became Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives
1951-52 Robert Smith Vance became a Federal Judge
1952-53 William J. Edwards III became a U.S. Congressman
1955-56 Walter W. Flowers became a U.S. Congressman and was a key democrat on the Watergate Panel. When Nixon lost his vote on the panel, he knew he had to resign.
1967-68 Don E. Siegelman became Alabama Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lt. Governor and Governor
1974-75 William Bell Blount became the Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party

There have also been dozens of Alabama students who rose through the SGA system with the backing of The Machine and went on to be pillars of their communities across the state as business and civic leaders.

But in the past 100 years, there have only been a handful of Alabama students who conquered The Machine to become SGA President without their blessing.

1936-37 Carl A. Elliot became a U.S. Congressman.
1963-64 Donald Wilbur Stewart became an Alabama State Senate and United States Senator
1970-71 James W. Zeigler served on the Alabama Public Service commission and is now Alabama State Auditor
1976-77 Cleophus Thomas, Jr. became the first black SGA President, went on to Harvard Law and served on the UA Board of Trustees
1978-79 A. Jerry DeVaney, after whose election The Machine added sororities to their ranks to bolster the size of their voting bloc
1983-84 John N. Bolus
1986-87 John Merrill served in the Alabama House and is now Alabama Secretary of State
2015-2016 Elliot Spillers will graduated from UA last spring.

Barring some action from the University Administration, Hunter will be inaugurated as the next SGA President on April 4.