U. of Alabama Elects Black Student Prez

Elliot Spillers, a University of Alabama junior, was elected as the school’s Student Government Association president Tuesday, making him the first black SGA president in almost 40 years. Student voter turnout reached a six-year high, with Spillers receiving 8,602 of the 14,391 votes cast. Spillers is also considered the first non-Machine candidate to win since 1986 (the Machine is known as a group of traditionally white fraternities and sororities that control many campus institutions). Several race-related scandals have hit the university, including a recent exposé on sororities’ reluctance to accept minorities because it would be bad for their “status” and “reputation.”