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Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Serving The University of Alabama since 1894.

The Crimson White

Rebecca Griesbach

Rebecca Griesbach, Editor-in-Chief

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Rebecca Griesbach is based in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Nikole Hannah Jones’ investigation on school resegregation sparked her passion for journalism. As a graduate student in gender and race studies, she spends most of her time writing about spatial politics, critical journalism and education equity. Her words and photos have made national appearances in Chalkbeat, ProPublica and The New York Times, as well as in local publications such as The Tuscaloosa News, Mosaic Magazine, The Tri-State Defender and The Crimson White.

As Editor-in-Chief, Griesbach is also a member of The Crimson White Editorial Board.

All content by Rebecca Griesbach
'Anyone but the Machine': Read the full SGA election results here

‘Anyone but the Machine’: Read the full SGA election results here

The SGA Elections Board redacted 93 mentions of the Machine from this year’s write-in results.
Let's pave a way forward

Let’s pave a way forward

Rebecca Griesbach, Editor-in-Chief August 4, 2020

I’ve felt like my life was in crisis a number of times. As someone who was dubbed “Messy Becky” six hours before her first 8 a.m. class of her college career, I’ve had my share of freshman faux...

Courtesy of Ally Thomasson

The Anderson Society hosts fundraising drive for Alabama REACH

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 21, 2020

The University of Alabama’s Anderson Society is hosting a virtual fundraising drive benefitting local organization, Alabama REACH, in lieu of its biannual service project. “While we are disappointed...

Firefighters work to contain the blaze. CW / Kelby Hutchison

More than a building: Million Dollar Band members reflect on home away from home

For the first 27 years of Ken Ozello’s 30-year career as a UA band director, uniforms and instruments for the Million Dollar Band (MDB) were usually stored in a band trailer or the back of members’...

CW / Rebecca Griesbach

Severe weather, possible tornadoes expected on Sunday

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 18, 2020

The National Weather Service is forecasting two rounds of potential severe weather for Tuscaloosa County on Sunday, April 19. The first round of severe weather is forecast for the early morning hours...

CW File

University of Alabama System appoints task force to improve campus safety

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 14, 2020

While students are away, the University of Alabama System is rethinking health and safety on campus. The UA System has created a task force led by UAB Health System experts to develop plans for University...

Graphic courtesy of Secret Meals for Hungry Children

Secret Meals For Hungry Children hosts weeklong donation drive

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 14, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a local non-profit is providing food to first responders and their families in addition to offering curbside pickup of food packs. They are also collaborating with...

CW / Rebecca Griesbach

Severe weather, possible tornadoes expected on Sunday

Rebecca Griesbach April 11, 2020

The National Weather Service has placed Tuscaloosa County in a moderate risk for severe weather suring the afternoon and evening of Sunday, April 12. The inclement weather warning includes tornadoes,...

Data: Three months of shelter-in-place could significantly flatten the curve

Data: Three months of shelter-in-place could significantly flatten the curve

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 8, 2020

With testing and resource shortages nationwide, data on confirmed COVID-19 cases hasn’t always been reliable. And, in Tuscaloosa, an early testing blunder by the regional hospital exacerbated the issue....

Tuscaloosa curfew orders won’t change much with new state mandate

Tuscaloosa curfew orders won’t change much with new state mandate

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 3, 2020

Alabama’s new shelter-in-place order isn’t much different from Tuscaloosa’s current curfew, Mayor Walt Maddox and city attorneys said at a virtual press conference Friday evening. On Friday afternoon,...

University, mayor encourage students to participate in 2020 Census

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor April 1, 2020

City leaders are well aware of the economic impact students have on Tuscaloosa, and if anything needed to prove that, it was a global pandemic. Though University closures have displaced droves of students...

Photo courtesy of Connor Tabbarok

‘Stop f—ing emailing me’: Students upset over Listserv issue

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor March 5, 2020

What began as a harmless reminder spiraled into a ruthless spamming of every University of Alabama student’s inbox Wednesday morning. An email from the UA Academic Advisors Association was sent to...

CW / Keely Brewer and CW / Kelby Hutchison

Inside two watch parties: Joiner wins presidency, del Carmen secures Senate seat

Lounging around a leather couch in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house, Demarcus Joiner and his campaign team let loose. They were prematurely celebrating what would be an unsurprising win.  This...

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Don’t forget about amendments on voting day

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor March 2, 2020

Though this year’s SGA races are vastly unopposed, all students will have something to vote on when Tuesday rolls around: Amendments.  In addition to candidate slots for the SGA executive board and...

CW / Madison Ely

No Contest: SGA candidates run vastly unopposed

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor February 24, 2020

It’s usually easy to tell when it's a campaign week. Backpacks and tote bags are adorned with plastic buttons, profile pictures are updated with logos and banners, and students line the Quad to pass...

Courtesy of UA News.

BREAKING: Myron Pope named vice president for student life

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor February 14, 2020
This position will be a homecoming for Pope, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in history and a Master of Arts and Doctorate of Education in higher education administration from the University of Alabama.
Ahead of legislation push, in-state students share sex-ed stories

Ahead of legislation push, in-state students share sex-ed stories

Landon Nichols grew up learning a faith-based version of sex education in his Selma private school, where students were taught an abstinence-only curriculum in a program covertly called “CHANGES.”  Nichols...

CW / Madison Ely

Black History Month program kicks off with panel, campus dialogues

In light of the upcoming 2020 election, this year’s Black History Month (BHM) programming is aptly themed, “African Americans and the Vote.” University groups officially kicked off BHM programming...

CW/ Joe Will Field

Bonnin among host of administrators to depart UA this year

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor February 3, 2020
After reporting on a series of hires and fires this past semester, The Crimson White’s news desk charted leadership changes over the past five years in efforts to give a broader snapshot of administrative turnover. Here’s what we found.
A Q&A with Demarcus Joiner: SGA representative discusses DEI programming, cabinet structure

A Q&A with Demarcus Joiner: SGA representative discusses DEI programming, cabinet structure

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor January 27, 2020

Last spring, Demarcus Joiner, the first full-time vice president of a newly formed student government cabinet for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), ran on a platform largely based on programming,...

CW / Hannah Saad

CANDIDATE RECAP: Pope draws on scholarship, strategies in second VPSL presentation

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor January 16, 2020

Myron Pope is a data person. That was clear in his presentation to a Ferguson Theatre audience on Jan. 16, when he laid out his vision and values for student life.  Pope, a UA alumnus, was the second...

CW / Hannah Saad

CANDIDATE RECAP: Carilli addresses track record, diversity at VPSL forum

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor January 14, 2020

Questions about diversity and inclusion were at the forefront in the first of five candidate presentations for an open senior leadership position at the University of Alabama. Vincent Carilli is the...

CW / Rebecca Griesbach

Severe storms, possible tornadoes expected on Saturday

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor January 10, 2020

The National Weather Service has placed Tuscaloosa County in an enhanced risk for severe weather on Saturday, Jan. 11, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.  The inclement weather threat includes...

A trip to the archives: Here’s how three CW editors covered segregation on campus

A trip to the archives: Here’s how three CW editors covered segregation on campus

When the University desegregated in 1956 and more formally in 1963, the paper was rarely critical of UA administration and devoted ample space to the voices of officials. Editorial commentary, however, condemned white violence on campus and supported integration, a stance that was met with resistance from several white readers.
Groups plan protests ahead of Trump’s arrival

Groups plan protests ahead of Trump’s arrival

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor November 8, 2019
After news broke Wednesday morning that the UA Student Government Association (SGA) was planning to remove students who engaged in “disruptive behavior,” however, a national audience began to question what exactly that behavior entailed and whether protest would be a possibility inside the stadium.
Hunter Scott, SGA Vice President of Financial Affairs, was the subject of an ethics investigation involving the FYC process. CW File

Investigation brings FYC process into question

A full house of first-year councilors gathered for their first Student Government Association (SGA) Senate meeting on Thursday, where they watched resolutions on parking and blue lights and diversity liaisons get passed.
UA President Stuart Bell met temporarily on Tuesday with a group of graduate students who staged a sit-in until they could get an official meeting to discuss their concerns about structural racism on campus. This was just one of several groups of students and faculty who made their voices heard in the two weeks following the resignation of Jamie Riley. CW / Joe Will Field

‘Only the beginning’: Activists push for a more inclusive campus

A further update on the free-speech movement on campus spurred by the resignation of Dr. Riley.
CW / Sam Flowers

Members of the UA community ask for an end to the silence

Three public meetings were held on Thursday, Sep. 12, to provide UA students, staff, faculty and administrators an outlet to discuss concerns, as well as possible actions, in response to the recent resignation of UA’s dean of students.
Photo courtesy of UA News

BREAKING: Dean of students resigns after pictures of past tweets surface

Jamie R. Riley, the University of Alabama’s assistant vice president and dean of students, resigned from his position on Thursday after less than seven months on the job, UA officials confirmed. 
CW/ Joe Will Field

Kiosks raise questions about parking access for all

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor August 19, 2019
Starting August 19, anyone with a chargeable card can park in the 73 new spots in the south end of the Ferguson Lot for free – for up to 30 minutes.
CW/ Joe Will Field

Emails show candidate was offered, quickly terminated from OSM director position

Emails obtained by The Crimson White through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request confirm that Bob Davis was offered and accepted the position of Director of the Office of Student Media at The University of Alabama, but was terminated five days later.
Hilary Green created and hosts "Hallowed Grounds" tours, which expose the University's ties to slavery. CW/ Hannah Saad

Professors, student activists encourage rethinking of University history

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor July 29, 2019
Four years ago, history professor Hilary Green started leading an alternative campus tour called “Hallowed Grounds,” in which she addresses the University’s long history with slavery and racism. Green’s tour includes slave cabins behind the President’s mansion, as well as several facilities built and housed by enslaved people. 
Breaking News

UPDATE: Davis no longer a candidate for OSM director, questions remain regarding hiring process

The Crimson White received confirmation on Friday from Monica Watts, Associate Vice President of Communications at the University of Alabama, that Bob Davis is no longer a candidate for the Director of the Office of Student Media position.
Grady resigns after four years as VP of student life

Grady resigns after four years as VP of student life

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor July 26, 2019

David Grady, the vice president of the Division of Student Life at the University of Alabama, announced his resignation in an email sent to UA students and faculty on Friday, July 26.  “We appreciate...

UA alumni react to OSM controversy

UA alumni react to OSM controversy

Former UA students are expressing their concern about a candidate for the Office of Student Media director position after allegations surfaced that he censored an unfolding story about sexual assault on his former newspaper’s staff. And, in an effort of clarification, an employee from The Anniston Star has also come forward to further iron out the narrative surrounding allegations of Davis’ involvement in covering up a story about sexual assault in 2017. 
Breaking News

Ethical concerns surround candidate for Student Media director position

A question of ethics surrounds a candidate for the Office of Student Media director position after allegations surfaced that he censored an unfolding story about sexual assault on his former newspaper’s staff. 
Judy Taylor (pictured) and Sharon Nelson led about 100 Tuscaloosa residents in a candlelight vigil for migrant children Friday evening.

Tuscaloosa residents hold vigil for detained immigrants

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor July 14, 2019

Sharon Nelson had never marched for a cause, had never held a picket sign and had certainly never organized a 100-person protest a day in her life.  Until last Friday, when she and other Tuscaloosa...

An estimated 125,000 fish were killed in the Black Warrior River after waste spill at a Tyson Foods plant in Hanceville, Alabama. Photo courtesy of Black Warrior Riverkeeper

UPDATE: Riverkeeper says ADEM E. coli investigation incomplete

Rebecca Griesbach, News Editor June 20, 2019

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management released an update of its investigation of Tyson Foods on Thursday, June 20. [MORE: Tyson Foods under investigation for E. coli in Black Warrior River] Water...

Hugh Culverhouse, Jr. pledged $25 million to the University last year.

Emails show Culverhouse decision unrelated to abortion ban

Rebecca Griesbach and Shahriyar Emami June 9, 2019

The University of Alabama System has been adamant that the decision to return Hugh Culverhouse Jr.’s $21.5 million donation had nothing to do with his public disavowal of the Alabama abortion ban. Now,...

CW/ Keely Brewer

Protesters march to end sexual assault on campus

Rebecca Griesbach, Managing Editor April 1, 2019
Twenty-eight UA students gathered on campus to rally for reproductive and sexual justice in the annual “Walk of Shame” on March 30.
ELI takes hits when international enrollment drops

ELI takes hits when international enrollment drops

Rebecca Griesbach October 23, 2017

Frannie James said she’d be terrified if she were still a full-time English as a Second Language instructor. “If I lost my job at The University of Alabama, there’s not many other jobs to get,”...

Autherine Lucy Foster's legacy honored with historical marker

Autherine Lucy Foster’s legacy honored with historical marker

Jessa Reid Bolling and Rebecca Griesbach September 18, 2017

Autherine Lucy Foster ended her third day of school in the annex of Graves Hall, where she was holed up for two hours before being escorted, face-down in a patrol car, to the safety of a nearby barbershop. Outside,...