Issues Minorities Face at the University of Alabama

Cedrick Alexander

Dateline Alabama Political Analyst

  At the University of Alabama, minority candidates seeking leadership issues face an assortment of challenges. The issues these candidates face align with those that minorities face on a national scale, but are magnified due to the microcosm of the college setting. In the inauguration of Barack Obama, a multiracial Democratic candidate, winning the election and becoming the first man of African American descent to become president of the United States, it is hard to understand how a collegiate campus cannot accomplishments similar or if not the same steps toward true democracy.

First you have to consider the state of Alabama in which the University of Alabama is located. The majority of the student population at the university are residents of the state. History show that the state of Alabama has arguably taken the longest to recover from the repercussions of divisive nature. The state is entrenched in history of segregation and the Civil Rights movement, with monuments and museums located in just about every large city to remind you of its history. The flagship university of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, was forcefully integrated by the National Guard at the orders of President John F. Kennedy. Governor George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door barring Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood from entering the facility. The university distances itself from this unfortunate past by having very little to no commemoration of the event nor recognition of where the event happened and what happened.

 To understand why these problems may still exist a little further let’s look at the numbers. 

      The statistics, according to collegedata.com, tell a proving story. With there being 84 percent of the campus of the same background, minorities at the University of Alabama face challenges with people being able to relate with them and their experiences.

    “Most of the time, people vote alongside people that look most like themselves,” said Aubrey Coleman, a junior at the University of Alabama majoring in Political Science. “It is assumed these people have the same ideas and values.”

 This is a very different dynamic to the majority candidates who are often times given the benefit of the doubt. Minorities have to find an equilibrium of having a sense of community and embracing their heritage as well as staying impartial enough not to turn off any voters of the opposite races.

 Then, there is the factor of apathy. On a campus of about 28,000 students and expanding, approximately 5,000 of those students made it to the polls to vote for SGA President in 2008. Apathy poses a large problem because minorities are often left without the support they need at the polls to win the election.

 “The real political machine is apathy, “said Stephen Storey, a junior majoring in Public Relations at the University of Alabama.

 “There is an overwhelming mindset that SGA doesn’t do anything,” said Laura Dover, a junior at the University of Alabama. “They accomplish no real radical change.”

 It is interesting that students on campus think this way, when they pay the tuition prices and their voices were the ones instrumental in getting the state-of-the-art recreational facility built only a few short years ago.

 These two factors alone make it very difficult for minority candidates to win elections in any positions of power on campus.

 Then there are the Greek-lettered affiliated organizations. The Greek political machine at the University of Alabama is a force. Instead of a divided number of candidates to choose from, the Greeks align their vote with one candidate and are very active in the voting process. It is encouraged and in some instances mandatory.

 “The Greeks are a large voter base,” said Laura Dover, a member of a Greek-lettered organization on campus, “It helps hide underlying racial tensions and it’s all about supporting the Greek candidates.”

  Pledges of these sororities and fraternities are provided incentives to help in the campaign process. The Greek-lettered organizations have a built-in voter base and campaign team regardless of the candidate’s platform or credentials. This minority (Greeks make up roughly 26 percent of the campus), is a large proponent in the fact that in the history of the University of Alabama elections only seven that have won have not been backed by this political machine.

 In order for minorities to gain a position of power at the University of Alabama they have to be able to mobilize people to get to the polls and vote. That is the majority of the battle. If they can manage to get people to vote, they have to make sure they cast their vote for them and not any other candidates.