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Mallet Assembly Who We Are The Mallet Assembly is the premiere honors living option at the University of Alabama. It is truly self-governing. All assembly matters are decided in democratic, bi-weekly meetings and are guided by a detailed but flexible constitution. We have no "Resident Advisors" or "Hall Directors" placed by the University. Instead, we have more than 16 officers, elected by the Assembly members, and live-in advisors (Chairman of the Board of Governors Dr. Jimmy Collier and Professor-in-Residence Trevor Jay), who are also chosen by the Assembly. The officers perform all administrative and leadership functions within the program. This provides members with (at least) four years worth of opportunity to participate and take leadership responsibility in an active program. We have the highest retention rate of any living option on campus, so there are many upperclassmen and grad students who are valuable sources of information and mentoring. Mallet provides a wide variety of activities, including the John Mallet Speaker Series, the occasional literary magazine or play, and intramural sports (we have won the last four all-campus championships and are aiming for a five-peat). In addition, we have yearly events like our Student-Faculty Christmas Mixer, the World's Smallest Mardi Gras Parade, and War Games, an all-inclusive dart war across the campus. Informal competitions are constantly being held; examples include the Chesstosterone Tournament and the EA Sports "NCAA Game Day" Tournament. Perhaps you want to go out to the Quad after it has rained 3 or more inches for a nice game of football in the middle of the night. Go for it, and expect about twenty (20) enthusiastic friends to join you. We call it "BOG BOWL". Mallet also has a long-standing tradition of campus involvement. A Malleteer chaired the last Student Government Constitutional Convention. The only African-American SGA President was a Malleteer. Many of our members have been SGA Senators, executive VP's and committee chairmen. We have had editors of the student newspaper, the Crimson White, as well as the Yearbook, the Corolla. Malleteers have been disc jockeys on campus radio and newsmen on Public Radio. We are active in Debate, College Bowl, and the Model U.N. Recently, Malleteers helped form the campus Libertarian Party organization. Most honoraries and honors programs on campus, including Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, and the Computer Based Honors Program, boast Malleteers as members, and Mallet has had Fulbright Scholars, National Merit Scholars, and Presidential Scholars within its ranks. It should be no surprise, then, that Malleteers have gone on to success in all walks of life. A member of the Assembly now serves on the University's Board of Trustees. Several Malleteers have become professors and university administrators. Many currently successful engineers (some with NASA) and businessmen (one a Coca-Cola VP) once called Mallet home, as did many of today's doctors and lawyers. Mark Childress, author and screenwriter of Crazy in Alabama, was once a Malleteer. The Mallet Assembly is not just a program. Our home, Byrd Hall, has a number of benefits as well. We have the largest rooms for men on campus, and no residence has lower room rates. Private rooms are assigned by seniority, so after a few semesters a Malleteer can have a private room as long as he stays with us, which is sometimes through grad school. We have an in-house computer network, allowing us to play and work together online. Our History The Mallet Assembly (aka the Men's Honors Program) was organized in 1961. Named for its first residence in Mallet Hall, the Assembly also claims as its namesake John Mallet, a Civil War era chemist and head of the Confederacy's incendiary munitions division (and the first of many Malleteers who love to blow things up!). Perhaps this legacy was one of the reasons Mallet was listed, in the early 1960's, as a subversive organization with capability to build a nuclear weapon. Alas, we just never got around to that. Always a source of creative energy, the Assembly antics finally exhausted the University's tolerance in the early seventies. After too many Vietnam protests and the launching of a snack machine into Palmer Lake, Mallet was unceremoniously relocated to Byrd Hall (coincidentally right behind the President's Mansion) and where we have resided ever since. The late seventies saw Malleteers Cleo Thomas elected as the first and only black president of the SGA. Elected by a coalition of independents and rebellious sororities, Thomas was also the first person to defeat a machine-backed candidate for the office of president. In 1981 a fire gutted Byrd Hall's attic and left the Assembly with a new roof and no access to our uppermost story. The suspected cause of the fire was a (very clumsy) vagrant living in the attic. And to this day, some older Malleteers still reckon time by "the year of the fire." The Assembly continues its tradition of non-conformity and general smart-assedness today. The recently disbanded SGA was brought back to campus in 1996 with the help of Malleteer Lee Pruit, who served as Constitutional Convention Chairman. For Homecoming 1996, the Assembly decided that the University's lame theme "The South's Timeless Traditions" could not go unspoofed. After collecting old warehouse pallets, chicken wire, and plenty of balled-up toilet paper, the Assembly created a breathtaking lawn decoration titled "The South's Untimely Traditions." Scenes such as George Wallace's stand in the schoolhouse door, a Klan lynching, and an exploding church reminded students that the South's traditions were more than just southern belles and football. Ignorant locals and biased media attention from the campus newspaper caused quite a controversy. The story of our lawn decoration even appeared on the AP news wire, all this for less than $38 and a few all-night pomping sessions. Most recently, the Assembly clenched the All-campus Intramural Sports Title for the fourth year, with a fifth not far behind... Why Mallet? The word that best describes the Mallet Assembly is "freedom." Mallet offers you freedom in your college experience - freedom to make your own decisions, freedom to think what you want and, most importantly, freedom to be who you are. Conceived in 1960 as an experimental, self-governing men's program, the Mallet Assembly has been the premier living choice of intelligent men for over forty years. Today, Mallet is still the University's only honors organization that self-governs its residence hall. The Assembly elects the officers who oversee the program, including the live-in advisors who interface with the university. We expect our members to be responsible adults, so we have no need for curfews, visitation regulations or enforced study hours. At Mallet, we believe that you are old enough to make your own choices, and be responsible for your own actions. Being self-governed means that YOU (along with the other people who live in the hall) elect those in charge of the Assembly, and they answer to you directly. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, consider living with us. And because of our emphasis of freedom, you will find people from all walks of life within our walls. Whatever your major, odds are it's someone else's too. Whatever interests you have, there will be someone here to share them. Mallet is a diverse community that fosters free thought, intelligence, and fun. It's a great way to make most of your college experience.
Official Homepage: Mallet Men's Honors Assembly
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