Members Only by Julie Tibbott

Author:Julie Tibbott
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Zest
Published: 2014-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

INSIDE THE MACHINE

The representatives of the Machine meet weekly in an undisclosed location. Rumor has it they used to meet in a gravel pit or in the woods near an old Confederate train tunnel, but when those possible locations were revealed in a magazine article years back, they chose a better-hidden headquarters.

At their meetings, they discuss their appointee choices for student government, homecoming queen, and other honors societies. When election day rolls around, the Machine provides transportation to the polls. Frat boys and sorority girls pile into their party buses and limos, where a Machine rep might hand them a beer and tell them who to vote for. Theta Nu Epsilon throws a big-budget after-party for the voters. Some of the Greeks reportedly impose fines on their non-voting brothers and sisters.

But what may be more interesting than what goes on inside the Machine is what happens to University of Alabama students outside of it. Fewer than one third of the student body is in Machine-controlled organizations, and many of the other students are fed up with the disproportionate power structure. In 1989, when independent candidate Joey Viselli lost his student government association presidential bid to the Greeks by a small margin, there was thought to be corruption. However, the administration refused to hold another election. In the bitter aftermath, business plummeted at Joey’s father’s local pizza shop. The place had been popular with the Greek chapters, but after the election kerfuffle, the Machine staged a boycott and soon the pizza shop was out of business. The message: Cross the Machine, and you just might get chewed up in the gears.

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