Despite an historic election last month, the University of Alabama Student Government Association is currently stalled as Senate members refuse to allow its new president to choose his own chief of staff.

SGA President Elliot Spillers garnered a record-breaking voter turnout in March to become the school's second black president, but the SGA is now at a standstill after the Senate voted down two of his appointments and tried to force through their own pick.

Spillers is also the first non-Machine candidate to hold the office since 1986 (when now-Secretary of State John Merrill won), and many at UA say the senators opposing Spillers' appointments are taking Machine orders.

A chief of staff must be confirmed before other cabinet positions are filled, per UA SGA rules, and the cabinet must be confirmed before any other legislative action.

"It makes no sense to me," Spillers said Wednesday. "These arguments are tired. They're preventing themselves from doing any work, and it's not something I condone at all. It's a nuisance."

Political parties are illegal under SGA rules, but the Machine, an underground but well-known group of traditionally white fraternities and sororities, is thought to have controlled campus institutions for decades.
Though supposedly underground, the Machine is well-known on campus and among alumni.

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In an investigative series on the Machine during the 2011-12 school year, student newspaper The Crimson White confirmedthe Machine consists of upwards of two dozens Greek houses (in 2011, there were 28 member houses), each with a younger and an older representative who attend Machine meetings.

In their 2011 report, the CW confirmed each affiliated Greek house pay at least $850 a semester to fund the organizations, reps' bar tabs and an annual beach vacation.

In return, the group endorses candidates (primarily white males) for SGA senate and SGA executive offices and controls an impressive voting bloc.

SGA elections are not just contentious for UA students. The university's Faculty Senate frequently discussed the Machine and its influence during heated meetings in 2013 while dealing with the fallout of possible Greek tampering with a local school board election and the lack of diversity in the sorority system.

"It's not a place for the fainthearted," Thomas said in March. "Student politics at Alabama are as rigorous as student athletics. Football at Alabama is more than just children playing, there's something larger at stake. UA forecasts professional lives."

Thomas and Spillers were both successful in large part due to their relationships within the Greek system while still maintaining their independence.

"I don't care if you're [Machine] backed or not, just have freedom of thought. Think for yourselves," Spillers said. "What it comes down to, a lot of the senators are very young. And they're doing what they think is tradition, but it's just the Machine in their ear."