Quite frankly, I am disappointed in the actions of many of my fellow colleagues, peers and, most importantly, friends. The tampering of First Year Council applications represents a display of great individualism and selfishness by some of my fellow senators.

If the information pertaining to the tampering of FYC applications did not come out, many freshman leaders would have been denied acceptance to our First Year Council program. To move forward from this scandal, we must not give up. We must hold our heads high, work harder, and continue to move forward.

From this day on, it is pertinent that there is no individualism or selfishness left in our Student Government Association. We must start working together as one student body, as one SGA and as one University of Alabama.

In the words of legendary Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, “A great unit, whether it be football or any organization, shares the same heartbeat.”

I think it would be a great service to Coach Bryant for us, as students, to start sharing the same heartbeat. To do this, we need to take a lesson from our undefeated football team.

Every Saturday, that group of men comes to the football field displaying great unity. As students, we need to start bringing that same winning attitude and passion that infiltrates Bryant-Denny Stadium on game day to the classroom, workplace and particularly to the SGA office on a daily basis.

We need to prove to the rest of the United States that we represent more than a school built around football.

Rather, we have the potential to represent the number one student body, the number one SGA and the number one University. To do that, we, as students, as an SGA and as a campus need to all share the same heartbeat.

Jay Humphries is an SGA senator from the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration.