The Machine’s Control of Alabama State Politics and Their Student Government

The Machine is an underground coalition of Panhellenic Sororities, Interfraternity Council, and Fraternities at the University of Alabama (UA). The Machine was formed initially under a chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon and has a degree of influence over Student Government (SGA) and Alabama State Politics.

What is its Purpose?

In US politics, a Political Machine is a party or organization headed by a single person or a small group that commands enough votes to maintain political and administrative control of a city, county, or state; In this case, “The Machine” corresponds to its systematic ability to appoint its very own candidate to Student Government Association President on a frequent basis.

The Machine has been in operation since 1914 and has been suspected of Election tampering, cross-burning, and physical aggression against University of Alabama students. Not only did it influence and control the SGA presidential election, but it also gave birth to Alabama’s politicians such as former senator Lister Hill (who was one of the founders of the machine) and the first SGA president, and Joe Espy, an Alabama attorney.

In a Machine Pamphlet from 1989, it states that the “one standard,” they base their “membership on is the future use of newcomers to our union and its members.” They are “proud of [their] history at the University of Alabama.” As “Theta Nu Epsilon has elected an SGA President 68 times in the 75 years of the SGA’s existence. This is because the SGA is [theirs] and [Their] brethren formed it in 1913.”

In The Machine, before any election, all Machine-based SGA candidates are cleared; once a Machine ballot is appointed, a chapter meeting is held to promote members to cast votes for the Machine-backed frontrunner. Anyone who fails to vote will be penalized, which clarifies why Greek voter participation is so strong.

Machine-Backed Politicians and Their Role in State Politics

Lister Hill was the first SGA president at the University of Alabama and became a US senator, he is considered one of the founders of The Machine; another US senator was John Sparkman. John was a jurist and politician from Alabama who served in the House of Representatives from 1937 to 1946.

The most infamous Machine backed Politician was Walter W. Flowers. Walter was a US congressman who was a key democratic member of the Watergate Panel. Flowers served 5 consecutive terms in the US House of Representatives and served on the House of Judiciary.

The Fight For Control of Student Government

There have been many attempts to fight back against the machine and have a fair election. Many organizations have been created; such as The Coalition. The Coalition was formed in 1968 and was in operation through 1972. The men's living quarters, small non-machine clubs, the International Students Association, women classmates, as well as the Afro-American Association partnered on this task. It was formed to persuade independent voters to vote for candidates other than machine candidates.

A year after being formed they succeeded in electing Joe Estep who triumphed over George Culver as vice president. It chose Henry Agee as secretary-treasurer over Phil Reich of the Machine. Jim Zeigler had been elected president of SGA as an independent in 1970 of the SGA. In the article “Taking on ‘Machine’ a battle on UA Campus” written by Kathy Dean; Jim Ziegler recalls his experience of being SGA president that was not Machine backed. In the article, Ziegler states, “The Machine leaders took their authority and power very seriously. They were secretive about who they were. Each fraternity had two representatives in the Machine. Nobody knew who they were; they met in secret.”

The Machine took their powers so seriously that a Machine-dominated student legislature tried unsuccessfully to impeach him, and Zeigler's dormitory room burned the night the attempt failed. In the article, Ziegler states, “The fire was investigated, but no one was charged and the university eventually issued a statement claiming lightning had struck his room.”

Jim Ziegler was not the first and surely was not the last to be assaulted or threatened by The Machine. Cleo Thomas was the first Black American to win the SGA presidency in 1976; to help defeat the 1976 Machine candidate, a partnership of independent voters, black students, and white sorority members was created, which ultimately secured her spot as SGA president. Thomas’s win was met with a violent and disturbing reaction. According to an article “10 Stories That Show The Power Of 'The Machine,' University Of Alabama's All-White Secret Society'' by Peter Jacobs, he states, “An eight-foot-tall cross was burned in front of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house.”

Jacobs continues, “In response to Thomas' victory, the Machine radically changed the makeup of its group. Realizing that sororities were a growing political threat, the Machine invited in Greek women for the first time, and extended membership to more fraternities to offset independent students' voting power.”

Kappa Kappa Gamma now makes up 28 of the white sororities at the University of Alabama that now make up The Machine.

Recent Events

In August of 2013, The Machine reemerged when multiple white sororities and fraternities allegedly hijacked a school board election. The two candidates were former Machine-backed SGA presidents Cason Kirby and Lee Garrison. The day of election evidence indicated that 11 fraudulently claimed to be living in a single household in the District 4 area of Tuscaloosa; leaked documents implied that sorority/fraternity members might have been offered incentives to cast a vote such as free drinks at local bars and free limo rides. The incident left UA staff questioning if the Machine has tarnished the Democratic process in the city of Tuscaloosa.

Another incident occurred when United Alabama proposed a resolution that would allow political parties on campus. This effort was an attempt to expose the Machine but the attempt initially failed when the Student Government voted 21-9, all but one of the senators who voted against the solution were Machine-backed. The overall goal was to expose the Machine and get them to recognize themselves as a political party other than banning them.

In the article, “Influential Secret Society Blamed For Problems On Campus Dodges Transparency Push” written by Tyler Kingkade, Matthew Bailey a senator who backed the proposal stated that “getting people to admit the Machine exists isn't necessarily the problem.”

He continued with “the problem is getting an official recognition of it as an organization”

Now a total of 28 white greek organizations make up the Machine at the University of Alabama.

Machine Fraternities:

Beta Theta Pi

Delta Chi

Delta Kappa Epsilon

Delta Tau Delta

Kappa Alpha Order

Kappa Sigma

Lambda Chi Alpha

Phi Delta Theta

Phi Gamma Delta

Pi Kappa Alpha

Pi Kappa Pi

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Sigma Chi

Sigma Nu

Theta Chi

Zeta Beta Tau

Machine Sororities:

Alpha Chi Omega

Alpha Delta Pi

Alpha Gamma Delta

Alpha Omicron Pi

Chi Omega

Delta Delta Delta

Delta Zeta

Kappa Delta

Kappa Kappa Gamma

Phi Mu

Pi Beta Pi

Zeta Tau Alpha

Works Cited

Kingkade, Tyler. “Influential Secret Society Blamed for Problems on Campus Dodges Transparency Push.” HuffPost. HuffPost, April 1, 2015. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/machine-senators-alabama_n_6988690?utm_hp_ref=university-of-alabama.

Jacobs, Peter. “10 Stories That Show the Power of 'the Machine,' University of Alabama's All-White Secret Society.” Business Insider. Business Insider, October 3, 2013. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-machine-university-alabama-all-white-secret-society-2013-10.

Koval, J. (1983, January). Machine Still Exists At Alabama. Welcome to the machine:: Machine still exists at Alabama. Retrieved August 6, 2022, from https://welcometothemachine.info/media.php?ID=34

Borger, J. (2001, September 11). Secret Network Keeps Sororities White. The Guardian. Retrieved August 7, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/11/usa.julianborger