In the 2025 SGA general elections, each Executive Council position was uncontested, leaving UA students without real options on who to vote to represent them, beyond writing in a candidate of their choice.
Several former SGA representatives said the lack of candidate options is due to the influence of the Machine. The Machine, or Theta Nu Epsilon, is a not-so-secret organization of select historically white sororities and fraternities designed to influence campus elections and politics.
“Nobody’s getting involved, because they’re just so used to the Machine winning everything. So it’s like, why would I spend a week of my life and $2,000 of my own money to run this election?” said Drew St. Charles, who was a senator for the College of Commerce and Business Administration in 2022-2023, now known as the Culverhouse College of Business.
About 9,270, or 23.8%, of students participated in the 2025 SGA spring general election. Those involved in Machine sororities and fraternities on campus are often pressured to vote. Tactics include sending text messages, phone calls, and publicly calling out who has not voted. This could mean a large number of voters were likely students who felt they had no other choice.
Current SGA President Samad Gillani said that if students do not feel represented by their options on the ballot, they can write in a candidate they feel represents them best.
“It’s important to participate in any election at any time, even an uncontested election,” Gillani said. “It shows that you are an advocate for yourself. It helps students prepare for a lifelong tenure of being civically engaged.”
Some former SGA senators said the influence from the Machine is the reason that student voting rates are low, as well as why there were not any contested positions in the Executive Council race.
“I think the Machine thrives off of the lack of engagement,” said Eyram Gbeddy, who was a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences in 2023. “The more we give up because of the Machine, the tighter their grip grows.”
Ragan Hope Wilson, a senator for the College of Social Work from 2022-2023, agrees. She said that as a social work student, there is an inherent “commitment to good governance” and that seeing Machine senators for the School of Social Work “was not an option for [her].”
Wilson said that she had several friends in Greek life who felt unable to run against the Machine, but she knew she could.
“I would like to always encourage them that anyone can run against the Machine. They won’t do anything to you,” Wilson said. “It’ll be isolating and socially hard, but you can do whatever you want.”
For the 2025 school year, the School of Social work is represented by two senators who are not supported by the Machine.
Independent candidates said they received campaign violations, making it even harder for them to run successful campaigns.
In the last 75 years, there have only been three general elections where every Executive Council position was uncontested: The elections in 2020, 2021 and 2025.
In 2023, four independent candidates ran for SGA executive council positions. Karina Collins ran for vice president of student affairs, Elizabeth Prophet for executive vice president, Xzarria Peterson for vice president of diversity equity and inclusion — now renamed the vice president of belonging and wellness — and John Richardson for president. All four had multiple campaign violations filed against them.
“There was a sweeping campaign violations campaign against the independents,” Collins said.
During Prophet’s executive VP campaign, she hosted a coffee tab at Strange Brew Coffeehouse to talk to potential voters. She was accused of election fraud and “paying voters to vote for [her].” These claims were dismissed and didn’t require a hearing from the elections board.
“It really was a coordinated effort,” Prophet said. “At least, that’s what it felt like.”
While the Machine’s efforts to stop independents from running are more public for Executive Council positions, there have been instances of interference at the Senate level as well.
John Dodd won a seat as a senator for the College of Arts and Sciences in 2021. He said he ran an anti-Machine campaign, and he ended up receiving the most votes for the college that year. He also was given six campaign violations.
“It’s a common thing that the Machine does,” Dodd said. “They do that to take up all your time and also scare you, to want to tone down your rhetoric, to think you’re going to get in trouble.”
Despite the Machine’s long history, the University has almost never acknowledged the group’s existence, which some say is contributing to the power it holds.
“I find it very hard to believe that the administration is not knowledgeable and supportive of the Machine,” Prophet said. “It’s gone on for this long, and to argue that it has gone on under the nose of the administration seems absolutely unreasonable to me. So I know I don’t think that the administration is on our side. I mean, it’s like using a corrupted institution to try to correct something within another institution.”
Dodd echoed these sentiments, saying that while the University has a diverse population of students, they are not equally represented in the SGA, which he believes is partly due to University’s lack of acknowledgement of the Machine.
“The University’s persistent denial of the Machine’s existence further exacerbates the problem,” Dodd said.
A University spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
SGA President-elect Lucy Bonhaus said that SGA is “actively working” to change the perception that it only represents a small part of the student body through initiatives like the Capstone Wellness Explorer.
“We’re determined, especially this year, to expand the SGA’s visibility and accessibility to all students,” she said. “SGA is not just for a select group or student organizations, but it’s for everyone on our campus, and I’m really going to make that a priority this year.”
Though every member of the 113th executive board is in a Greek organization, Bonhaus said that the cabinet was composed of members from all different student organizations, not just Greek life.
“I really don’t think that Greek affiliation matters in the scope of your ability to be a leader and to do your job well,” Bonhaus said. “I don’t view that as anything that should hinder anybody from getting involved or becoming a member of the SGA. I do think that students may be intimidated by this fact, but I do not think that this should affect anybody in their journey within SGA.”
Dodd said that students should not be discouraged from running in elections if they are not Machine-endorsed candidates.
“Just don’t be afraid. I mean, if you lose, you’re not going to make a fool out of yourself,” Dodd said. “Everyone’s gonna be so proud of you, and you’re still going to have a spotlight, and even more people are going to see how good of a leader you are just by stepping up and throwing your name in the ring.”
