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The MachineThe Machine, the local chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon at the University of Alabama, is comprised of a select coalition of traditionally white fraternities and sororities designed to influence campus politics. The Machine controlls much of student life at the University of Alabama and has gone so far as to install members in local government so as to exercise its power against the City of Tuscaloosa. According to newspaper accounts and a documentary produced by the University of Alabama, the Machine is believed to control the Student Government Association (SGA)- having won all but seven races for the SGA presidency since 1914, including wins against former Alabama Gov. George Wallace (a non-Machine candidate)-, the annual Homecoming elections and a popular bar in the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Founded in 1914 by the late Sen. Lister Hill, who also founded the Jasons Mens Senior Honorary and who served as the first president of the SGA, the Machine initially consisted of select fraternities; sororities were not offered membership until the 1970s - to this day, not all greek letter organizations have been offered membership, and it is believed that over the years, some fraternities and sororities that were members have had their memberships revoked. A candidate who is offered political office by the Machine is guaranteed several thousand votes in their favor, ensuring victory. It is believed that 90% of those who are put up for SGA office by the Machine go on to political careers in Alabama, Mississippi, or Louisiana. Members include former Alabama Lt. Gov. Bill Baxley, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and current U.S. Sen. Richard C. Shelby. SGA elections have been marred by violent assaults and death threats in the past, resulting in an FBI investigation, an expose in Esquire Magazine, and national media coverage from CNN and USA Today. Members of the Machine do not admit as such, in fact, they deny its very existence despite documented evidence to the contrary. However, the Machine continues to be extremely active in campus, controlling important events and exercising power over its fellow students from late night meetings in fraternity basements and other secret locations. History Many accounts of Alabama's 'Machine' have portrayed the organization as a sinister nexus of white elitist fraternal organizations. However, these portrayals were perpetrated in part by the organization itself since it tended to distract from the facts of its operation while at the same time reinforcing its paranoia and mythology. These accounts have often incorporated as sources greeks and independents with overtly political motivations. UA's 'Machine' is a chapter of Weslyan's Theta Nu Epsilon society (TNE) and Yale's Skull and Bones society. TNE was an honorary organization for sophomores started on December 5, 1870 at Weslyan University which drew direct inspiration from Yale's elite Skull and Bones society for Juniors, and in fact Weslyan's TNE used the same constitution for the first two years. The complex history of the TNE national organization results in multiple dates for the formation of UA's chapter. It is, however, safe to say the organization now known as the 'Machine' grew primarily out of the Skulls, an organization chartered at UA on Valentine's Day 1909. That year's edition of the Corolla describes it as an "elite political organization" consisting of twenty-one members and two leaders. It is currently estimated that the organization has 30-40 members. In 1912, UA's Skulls and several of the earliest members of the TNE national were driven out due to their insistence on maintaining the organization's designation as a sophomore honorary rather than a three year fraternity. This list also includes Wesleyan, Union, Cornell, California, Hamilton, Lafayette, Amherst, Wooster, Michigan, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Rutgers, Ohio Wesleyan, Swarthmore, Harvard, Trinity (Hartford), Duke, Nebraska, Virginia, C.U.N.Y., Boston University, University of Maryland at Baltimore, Medical, Auburn, and Stanford. The TNE society currently operating at UA was chartered in 1914, stating that its mission was to "positively influence the campus and the community, and that when it failed to do so, it should be disbanded." Soon after the organization was created, the ideals set forth in TNE's charter lost to most of those on the outside, and in the 1920's, UA's campus newspaper, The Crimson White, began to use the term 'Machine' to describe the organization's efficiency for placing its members into the SGA and state-wide politics. Alabama Senator Richard C. Shelby, Alabama Governor Don Segielman, Alabama Senator Howell Heflin, and Alabama State Treasurer Charlie Graddick are all rumored to be products of UA's 'Machine', and only 7 of UA's SGA presidents have ever come from outside of the traditional greek community as of Spring 2004. where as the fraternities and sororities associated with TNE constitute roughly 20 percent of the student body. After the 1997 assault of Melinda Riley resulted in the suspension of the SGA executive board, the strongarm tactics to seem to have subsided. In the Spring of 2004, the Crimson White published an article entitled 'You don't want to mess with us' which exposed the Machine in detail through a harassment incident with a student which transferred from UA the previous year.
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