The Student Organization Seating Committee finalized its seating section Thursday, with block newcomers Honors College Assembly, Alpha Phi Alpha and Air Force ROTC, among others, claiming prominent spots in the seating section.
Student Organization Seating Chair Clay Armentrout said every organization that applied for SOS received a designated seating section, and he is proud of the diversity of SOS.
“I’m excited we were able to give each organization that applied their own seating area,” Armentrout said. “It’s also great to be a part of the process the year that we were able to move it forward and include a variety of different organizations.”
Thomas Walker, president of Alpha Phi Alpha, said this has been a great sign of progress at the University.
“Something that keeps hitting me is, over forty years ago in 1963 when Governor George Wallace was standing outside Foster auditorium and he denied the admittance of two African American students to this university. Now it’s 2010, and we are making remarkable steps moving this university forward, integrating different organizations. It’s just a powerful thing to see.”
Walker said his fraternity brothers had apprehensions about applying for seating but are no longer cynical about the process.
“When I first told my brothers in my fraternity about it, they weren’t sure if we would get it or not, but I pushed them and told them we can do this over and over again. And seeing what we got it is remarkable,” Walker said.
“I wasn’t sure where we’d be placed at first but where the committee placed us, I couldn’t be happier. Especially for an African American organization, the first time that we applied for this and we’re awarded with it with great seating at the game. I’m very thankful for it.”
Walker said this year has been “monumental” and hopes the University can continue to move forward.
“This was monumental for us, and not just for us. It was monumental for all black fraternities and other organizations. I hope that we can continue on with this great thing we are doing now at the University of Alabama, continuing to integrate different organizations – black, white, it doesn’t matter.”
Student Government Association Vice President of Student Affairs Stephen Swinson said it has been a “memorable year” for the University, and said he believes that the new system gives organizations across campus an incentive to excel in all areas.
“The great thing about student organization seating is that it drives student-led organizations to make a positive impact on the University and the community.”
Swinson also said he believes the SGA came through on its promise to diversify block seating and that members of organizations who applied are satisfied.
“The SGA did not just talk about being inclusive and opening up to new organizations; we actually did it,” Swinson said.
“Student organization seating has some new faces and I think that is something all organization members are excited about. The section is diverse and the organizations are intertwined. I believe this will better represent the face of our University,” he said.
Nate Culora, Executive Officer of Air Force ROTC, another first year SOS participant said he didn’t have great communication with the SGA but was content with the final results of the process.
“I am very satisfied with the block we received. I feel that our block is accurately placed in terms of how we thought we would perform against other student organizations,” Culora said.
“Communication between the SGA and the organization was not that great, at least for us it wasn’t. But again the process was very straight forward and very easy.”
SGA President James Fowler said this year’s Student Organization Seating will go a long way in unifying the campus.
“We are excited about how things went this year. We were able to reward organizations for their hard work while bringing together groups from all corners of the campus.”
The student organization seating area will be shifted slightly west this season, to sections S-4 through S-8.
