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U.S. NEWS A7
Thursday 9 March 2017
Black junior to lead student gov’t at University of Alabama
JAY REEVES “It still feels pretty unreal Hunter defeated two white recently in 2015, when he he had misgivings about
Associated Press that I won,” he said. candidates including the received the support of accepting the group’s
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Hunter is the first black incumbent, who was seek- some white fraternities. But support after being told it
A black University of Ala- member of the Theta Chi ing re-election. no other black has ever wanted to back him.
bama student supported “Running for office with the
by a secretive campus Jared Hunter, center, and his campaign staff react to his election as student body president at support of a group with
group long controlled by the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Tuesday, March 7, 2017. Originally from We- such a checkered past
whites has been elected tumpka, Ala., Hunter is the first black student to win the position with the backing of a secretive was one of the hardest de-
student government presi- group called The Machine, which is composed of the school’s most prestigious, historically white cisions I have ever made,”
dent, breaking a barrier fraternities and sororities he wrote in a column pub-
that seemed unlikely to fall lished by The Crimson White
a few years ago. (Jacob Arthur/Alabama Crimson White via AP) before the election.
Junior marketing major Jar- Stories of Machine ac-
ed Hunter won the office in fraternity at Alabama and Two other black candi- been acknowledged as tions aimed at opponents
balloting Tuesday, carrying got the Machine endorse- dates have been elected being backed by The Ma- are numerous through the
54 percent of the vote in a ment. Running on a plat- student government presi- chine. In publicly announc- years — a burglary, a cross-
three-way race. form that included more in- dent at Alabama — inde- ing his support by The Ma- burning, vandalism, social
Hunter won after writing tercultural events on cam- pendent Elliot Spillers most chine, Hunter wrote that ostracism, to name a few.
a column in the student pus, combatting sexual The student government
newspaper, The Crimson assault and free soft drink association was temporar-
White, stating he was sup- refills at football games, ily disbanded two decades
ported by a campus or- ago after a non-Machine
ganization called The Ma- presidential candidate
chine, which is composed claimed she was assaulted,
of the most prestigious, and a former Tuscaloosa
historically white fraternities school board member
and sororities on campus. sued over claims the group
Blamed for various acts of improperly swayed a city
wrongdoing for years, the election by providing stu-
group has controlled cam- dents with booze and con-
pus politics for generations. cert tickets in 2013.
Speaking in an interview Hunter, who grew up in
with The Associated Press Wetumpka near Montgom-
on Wednesday, Hunter ery, wrote: “The Machine’s
said he’s been told he was stigma casts a shadow on
the first black candidate the history of this university
ever backed by the group to this day.q
for SGA president, but race
never became an issue in
the election.
Historic site of Nashville sit-ins
to be restored as a new eatery
JONATHAN MATTISE responsibility to save the
Associated Press Woolworth building, refer-
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — ence its history and cre-
The Woolworth building in ate the restaurant’s own
downtown Nashville, where identity. Woolworth on 5th
black civil rights leaders is expected to open in late
once defiantly sat at a seg- 2017. The building was most
regated lunch counter that recently a Dollar General.
wouldn’t serve them, will “We should save this his-
soon celebrate the culture tory,” Morales said. “We
it once shunned by housing should identify and em-
a soul food restaurant with brace it and make sure that
live music. it stays. Because even as
Restaurant entrepreneur the high-rises go up, which
Tom Morales announced are a part of growth and
the project Wednesday progress, the little build-
inside the unfinished build- ing next to it represents a
ing at an unveiling. Soul- movement that, really, its
ful songs and powerful re- roots were here in Nash-
marks about the building’s ville.” Mayor Megan Barry
history echoed through the noted that civil rights icon
largely emptied structure Congressman John Lewis,
lined with caution tape. a Georgia Democrat, was
As construction cranes first arrested in 1960 as a
continue to fill Nashville’s college student at a sit-in
growing skyline, Morales at the Woolworth lunch
said it’s an act of love and counter. q
