The Machine: A Not-So-Secret, Secret Society

With just 23 school days left for our seniors, after summer, many of our friends, fellow classmates, and hallway strangers will be off to college. This new chapter in your life will be the start of many great things. Going down your career path, making new friends, joining clubs, continuing that sport, or just getting the fresh start after high school, many of us need. As Noah Khan says in his song, " You're gonna go far," if you wanna go far, then you gotta go far. Picking the college that's best for you and your needs is important; picking a trade you excel in, going straight to work, or taking a gap year are all things you can do and succeed in. For those picking colleges with a frat or sorority life in mind, I would advise all to do a little research before pledge week.

Pledge Week

What is pledge week? Originally, pledge week took place in early fall as a week-long event where freshmen could visit fraternities and sororities, talk to older members, and decide which they wanted to pledge to. A safe and fun event compared to a high school college fair, where you can visit college booths and talk to someone about said college. Better referred to now as Hell week is a week where pledges, freshman some as young as 18, are subjected to hazing and humiliation rituals where they are expected to prove their worth and why they should be allowed into the house. Hazing happens all around the world in many different forms, causing Ptsd, trauma, nightmares, and in severe cases, death. The most referenced event of hazing now happened not too far from us at a college many of you may be deciding to go to. Referred to as the “basement video,” a video of a situation of hazing went viral involving the Alpha Delta Phi house, but what exactly are we seeing? Police and firefighters were called on campus to deal with a report of a fire alarm going off consistently in the house. Body cam footage shows a group of shirtless, blindfolded pledges herded together in the basement. Police report many were covered in ketchup, mustard, and alcohol. 21-year-old Joseph Gaya was arrested for interfering in a police investigation by trying to block the view of the pledges. All chargers were dropped; their chapter won't be active again until 2029.

Hazing Deaths

Over 400 deaths due to hazing have occurred in the US since the 1800s, anywhere from driving members out into the middle of nowhere and making them walk back, brutal beatings, and forcing overconsumption of alcohol. In one case, a student died from a ritual where a group of members surrounded a pledge and reportedly beat them with boxing gloves. He was punched in the chest and died suffering a seizure. Just in February of this year, 3 Fraternity members were charged in the death of an 18-year-old pledge. The 3 members at a fraternity event forced pledges to take drugs and drink large amounts of alcohol before leaving him to walk home alone, which eventually led to his drowning death. Death caused by hazing is a 4th Degree felony and can result in loss of scholarships, as well as serious jail time.

The Machine

We hear about secret societies mostly in media, in many books and shows, including the former popular show Riverdale. But what many don’t know is that there was a real-life secret society that is now not so secret. The Machine was formed in 1914 from the Alpha Rho chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon. Originally formed as a political group, but as time went on, it became sort of an odd popularity contest. The machine was known to control the votes for student government, homecoming queen, and other influential on-campus and off-campus offices, including the Student Government Association Senate. In meetings on campus, they decide who will be who. Blocking students from nominating non machine members for any offices, or in other words, if you weren't in the society or in a frat or sorority connected to the society, you didn’t get a say in anything. But how do they control the votes? The members of the machine would be the girls in your sorority that's in SGA or A part of the Crimson-White newspaper. A member of the machine could be your frat's president. Everyone knows who is in the machine, but everyone denies it. One day, one of these people might come to the chapter and suggest voting someone for homecoming queen or SGA, and everyone does simply because they are scared of the machine's darker past.

Since its opening, the machine has been known for its violence. Many people who attended Alabama in the past or even now have experienced threats, blackmail, and even assault when attempting to go against the machine and its decisions. But many won’t talk about the machine or their experience with the violence because of the threat that still lingers on campus today. The most well-known recollection of machine-related violence is the 1993 Opponent assault. In February 1993, Minda Riley, a student at the University of Alabama and sorority member running for SGA president, was brutally assaulted in her home by a masked individual. She was running against the machine's chosen candidate, Neil Duthie. Before the attack, a cross was burned on her lawn during Thanksgiving with the words “Machine Rules B****” left in her mailbox. During the February attack, she was brutally beaten, her lip was busted, and she was cut multiple times on the face by a man who said, “You f- with the wrong people, you get f- ” before fleeing the scene, leading to the suspension of SGA in the college.