When Jared Hunter stated he was backed by The Machine, the organization of University fraternities and sororities was propelled into new territory. For the first time, a candidate for president of the Student Government Association announced that he or she was backed by an organization that has predominantly functioned in secret before ballots were even cast. 

Hunter’s announcement once again put The Machine, an organization that has existed at The University for roughly a century, back into the spotlight. It raised old and new questions. But one overarching question still remains: What would happen if The Machine came out of the basement and became a SOURCE registered organization?

Daniel Dziadon, a senior majoring in metallurgical and materials engineering, said The Machine becoming a SOURCE registered organization would have a positive impact on the SGA. Dzaidon, who this past year served as the advisor to the executive vice president of SGA, said The Machine would function like the Capstone Coalition if it became a SOURCE registered organization. The Coalition currently supports candidates for SGA offices and functions like a political party.

“I think it would just be another organization that people can join and follow if they’re interested in politics,” Dziadon said.

As an underground group The Machine secretly lobbies its SGA members to enact policies favorable to the organization. This typically occurs through funding a candidate’s campaign, throwing private parties for favorable SGA members and allowing members to participate in a type of rewards system. Dzaidon said if The Machine came above ground, those tactics would become “more transparent.”

“I think the lobbying would be the exact same as it is from what you can see or what I can see,” he said.

Dziadon also said The Machine becoming SOURCE registered would eliminate the need for SGA candidates to be secretive about who supports them. Knowing which organizations support candidates would make students more open to voting and discussing big issues on campus, he said.

Even if The Machine does emerge from the underground, its transition to the public sphere will not be complete until it registers with The SOURCE, per University rules. The SOURCE is an organization housed in the Office of Student Involvement that specializes in providing resources, support and recognition to student organizations on campus. With SOURCE registration, The Machine would be deemed an officially recognized campus organization and much of the mystery that has surrounded its existence for decades would seemingly subside.

Rosalind Miller-Moore, the Director of Undergraduate and Graduate Student Involvement, does not see any reason why organizations like The Machine would be prohibited from becoming registered campus political parties, according to The SOURCE’s rules.

“I’m curious as to how we would list those groups, but as long as they met our basic qualifications for a general student organization, I don’t see any issue that we would have,” said Miller-Moore. 

The SOURCE requires that all student organizations meet certain basic qualifications to complete registration. Among these is the requirement of a group constitution that includes a “mission and vision with a broad reach” and a “non-discrimination clause,” among other standards. The Machine would also have to follow The SOURCE’s new organization creation process, meaning that they would have to identify a full-time faculty or staff member to serve as an advisor, have a designated president, vice-president, and treasurer, form a constitution and submit a list of 10 potential student members. 

Miller-Moore’s primary concern about campus political organizations is that they will not maintain a presence on campus once their specific election season is over. 

“I just want to know what your purpose is after the election is over,” Miller-Moore stated. “You need to exist beyond an election cycle, so we would probably look to help them establish a vision that is broader than just one election cycle.”

There are other obstacles that could potentially stymie The Machine’s path toward public assimilation aside from dealing with the SOURCE. However, laws in the student code of conduct prohibiting campus political parties, are essentially non-factors, according to political science Professor J. Norman Baldwin.

“I’ve heard some people say that campus political parties are outlawed, but I personally don’t see that in the student code,” Baldwin said. “I can tell you after working with people in student affairs, they talk about facilitating a party system more formally, and if people in student affairs are talking about that, I don’t see what people are picking up that political parties are outlawed.”

Baldwin has worked diligently in several capacities to reform Student Government Association for the past 25 years. He previously served as the advisor to the 1997 SGA constitutional convention, as well as the Faculty Representative for the SGA Elections Board. 

Baldwin has been a longstanding advocate for The Machine to come above ground, believing that its public emergence would benefit both the University of Alabama and The Machine itself. 

“The Machine puts a bull’s-eye on their back by being underground, because it causes peoples’ imagination to grow wild about what The Machine does,” said Baldwin. “The time is way long overdue for The Machine to come above ground and just be a legitimate student organization. They’re going to win whether they are above ground or underground, so why the underground?”

The Machine’s finances have been a topic of intense scrutiny almost as long as The Machine has existed. According to sources who previously spoke to the Crimson White, there is a $10,000 buy-in for fraternities and sororities to join The Machine, along with hundreds of dollars in dues that each Machine backed Greek organization must pay each semester.

Although The Machine may possess enough power to influence SGA elections, Baldwin believes that it would be prevented from doing so by rules that the Elections Board has already implemented.

“In terms of it having a real impact, it doesn’t have as much of an impact as you think because candidates can’t spend that much on their campaign,” Baldwin said. “In some ways, it’s a moot question, because there are limits to how much money can be spent on a candidate per election cycle.”

While questions about what would motivate the Machine to come above ground certainly exist, Baldwin asserts that The Machine members who finally bring the organization above ground will be lauded as heroes and not scolded as villains.

“Some people have told me that, if The Machine comes above ground, that the officers will be stigmatized for being Machine officers. I just don’t believe that’s going to happen,” Baldwin claimed. “I would tell people this: Machine officers who bring the organization above ground will be heroes, and I will be happy to call up any news outlet and tell them how great these kids are for taking this very smart step.”