BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Black University of Alabama student supported by a secretive campus group long controlled by Whites has been elected student government president, breaking a barrier that seemed unlikely to fall a few years ago.
Junior marketing major Jared Hunter won the office in balloting Tuesday, carrying 54 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
Hunter won after writing a column in the student newspaper, The Crimson White, stating he was supported by a campus organization called The Machine, which is composed of the most prestigious, historically White fraternities and sororities on campus. Blamed for various acts of wrongdoing for years, the group has controlled campus politics for generations.
Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Hunter said he’s been told he was the first Black candidate ever backed by the group for SGA president, but race never became an issue in the election.
“It still feels pretty unreal that I won,” he said.
Hunter is the first Black member of the Theta Chi fraternity at Alabama and got the Machine endorsement. Running on a platform that included more intercultural events on campus, combatting sexual assault and free soft drink refills at football games, Hunter defeated two White candidates including the incumbent, who was seeking re-election.
In publicly announcing his support by The Machine, Hunter wrote that he had misgivings about accepting the group’s support after being told it wanted to back him.
