Why I can't stand the University of Alabama

[bluestateguy]

It's not about football: OK, they won; they earned it and they are the best. Fine.

Alabama is the epitome of the aristocratic Old South: an entrenched "good ole boy" alumni network that resists progressive change, and a university that had to be desegregated by the military when the governor literally stood in front of the Administration building to block a black woman from enrolling.

As recently as 2001, a black girl named Melody Twilley was not invited to pledge a single traditionally white sorority simply because she was black. She had been similarly shut out the year before. None of Alabama's all white sororities accepted a single black girl until 2003.

Then there is "The Machine". A secret network of powerful frats and sororities (all white, of course) that, along with their alumni, quietly controls student elections and politics at the university. Only a handful of non-Machine candidates have ever won student elections. Members of the Machine have always denied that they even exist. Many ex-Machine members go on to careers in Alabama politics and big business.

Good ole boyism, racism, and an elitist Greek system (think of boys named "Chip" and girls named "Cassie"). I'll have none of it.

[Captain Hilts]

1. You could say the same about a lot of universities, actually. Not just in the South,

though Ole Miss comes close.

I had - and have - the same hatred for UVA for a lot of the same reasons.

[bigscott]

2. there are a lot of schools

that fall into this category. many universities have Greek systems that control the student political life, social life and exclude many minorities (AA, hispanic, gay, lesbian etc). And NOT just in the south by any means.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

3. Abolish the Greek system...

it's entrenched discrimination and elitism if there ever was. Back in undergrad, I interviewed for a sports writing position at the college newspaper. I had terrific writing samples as well as a couple of recommendations from journalism professors at the school.

I knew the odds were very much against me when they all knew each other not academically but socially, as all - from editors to reporters - were all members of the same two frats and sororities. The fact that grammar and editing sucked apparently didn't matter.

I 'lost' a good friend to a sorority. She and I were roommates and she was majoring in textile chemistry. Then a couple of suitemates who were seeking the 'Mrs.' degree, both from wealthy Old South families and majoring in communications (Note: nothing against communications majors, but at NC State that's the easiest and least labor intensive major you can get, which is why basketball/football players, as well as 'Mrs.' degree seekers and party-hardy types, tend to get into that), got entrenched and she eventually steered away from her rigorous studies and join that sorority, changing her major (guess which one) and basically losing my friendship, since apparently I was not thin or blonde or southern enough to be 'worthy' of that sorority.

I did hear from her a few years afterwards. She was living off daddy's prosperous business and wealth. She had not done anything with her degree and her 'Mrs.' degree (to a guy who was going to UNC-Chapel Hill and was a notorious philanderer - sometimes boasting of the escorts he'd slept with) was now a 'Ex' post-grad certification.

She regretted ever paying lots of money. She said it felt like she was buying a social network of friends, all of whom were carefully chosen and from the same background and social status.

[Berry Cool]

10. It's not just the Greeks who create those kinds of clubby situations on a campus.

If you apply to work at any campus publication it's considered prestigious and resume-building to work for, especially on the sports desk, you're going to have a tough time getting in. Those who are already there will protect their positions fiercely. Also, when elections are held for editorial staff, current staffers will vote for each other to either stay in their positions or rotate responsibilities until they graduate. Only when a current staffer graduates will a place open up, and if you want it, you had best have been kissing butt with the editors all along to get their vote.

Sure, they will give you editorial tests when you apply, but that's just window dressing. Working on a campus publication isn't possible unless you are either a) socially popular or b) willing to do the jobs nobody else wants to do--cover that boring lecture, write headlines until early in the morning, edit wire copy. That's what I had to do for my campus paper--after all, I was a transfer my junior year and had no social network at all, nor was I a social butterfly to begin with, just a person who could write, edit and spell. I soon discovered that writing, spelling and editing were not the chief skills that would get you on a publications staff.

We had a magazine that all the journalism majors were required to help work on for a quarter, but if you wanted to work on it after that or join the editorial staff, you had to apply and be elected by the current staff. Of course, I could not get elected because I didn't try to kiss ass with the staff. Instead, they just traded jobs amongst each other. When the most outstanding graduate in the journalism sequence was chosen for my class, of course it wasn't me with my high GPA, it was the magazine's editor-in-chief, who (in an economy with 10.8% unemployment) already had a job lined up after graduation, working for her daddy's publishing house.

It's too bad about your friend, but if that was the kind of superficial way she socialized, she would have dumped you sooner or later. I gather she has now come to regret the shallow decisions she made back then.

[bluestateguy]

17. I had a similar friend

A high school female friend of mine went off to college and gradually stopped returning my e-mails and acknowledging me. She joined a sorority and over the course of four years went from a down to earth, girl next door, to a bitchy, materialistic, shallow sorority girl. I saw her at my 10 year high school reunion and made it a point to only exchange a very curt greeting with her.

[RedCappedBandit]

18. Not all Greek orgs. are like that. nt

[CanonRay]

4. Yet they're happy to take credit for the black football players success

Fucking hypocrits. Republicans in waiting.

[Obamanaut]

5. Thank goodness this sort of thing is limited to schools in

south. "...Good ole boyism, racism, and an elitist Greek system..."

[SoxFan]

9. LOL

No Harvard or Yale grad could EVER be guilty of such things!

FWIW, I received my undergraduate degree from the University of New Orleans, which was the first public college in the South never to have been segregated, and my law degree from the University of Arkansas, the first southern flagship university to integrate (and it did so rather quietly).

[Lasher]

6. Did you know there are Black, Latino, and Asian Greek letter organizations?

I've never thought there was anything sinister about them but they do exist. The first was established in 1906.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Correction..."It" IS about football.

EVERYTHING in the South is about football.
Always.
You no idea....trust me.

[SoxFan]

8. On the other hand, Tim Tebow doesn't play for them

[guitar man]

11. Then again, they did this

:evilgrin:

Anybody that can make that little dipshit Tebow cry is allright by me :)

[Mudoria]

12. Up until this year he sure has made Bama fans cry...

[guitar man]

14. yes he did

and revenge is a dish best served cold :evilgrin:

[seeinfweggos]

23. awesome

[QC]

13. Where do you live?

Like most people who spend all their time here trashing Southerners, you are very careful to keep your own location hidden (though, oddly, your profile does tell us about the rather ordinary television that apparently fills you with such pride).

[bluestateguy]

15. The Midwest

I used to live in Texas.

[Dhalgren]

16. I went to graduate school at Iowa,

and elitism, good-old-boy-ism and exclusivity was rampant there, as well. I think your paint brush is too big for you...

[QC]

20. That's the only brush he has. n/t

[Shell Beau]

19. That's Alabama for you.

:eyes:

[joeybee12]

21. No, they are NOT the best...they played one game and beat texas

that was all...it's not a national title if everyone can't have a chance to play for it.

[Shell Beau]

22. Well, they are pretty damned good!

But they are in the SEC, so there you go!!

[seeinfweggos]

25. Without Texas' real quarterback they won

[Dhalgren]

26. So the entire Texas team means nothing?

I think that Texas played a good game and would have beaten a lot of other teams last night. Just sayin'...

ETA: Texas held every opponent to under 100 yards rushing this past season - two Alabama running backs made over 100 yards rushing last night. That is why Alabama won the game (at least part of why :) )

[seeinfweggos]

28. texas did a great job almost overcoming the loss of McCoy

But with McCoy they would have won IMHO

[Dhalgren]

32. Woulda, coulda, shoulda...

It is a team game. If the lost of one player means your team loses, then your TEAM loses. It is just how the game works. If Alabama had lost both of their 100 yard running backs, then they probably would have lost the game - that means they would have lost, period. Excuses are only excuses. I know, Alabama fans (as all others) use them all the time - not this time, though! :)

[seeinfweggos]

34. too bad for Alabama since it greatly diminishes their win.

[Dhalgren]

36. Only to folks who don't understand the game.

To people who follow football and understand the game, a win is a win. It is team against team. A team that relies almost solely on one player is not a very good team. Texas is a very good team - no excuses, just a good team...

[Shell Beau]

38. I think they would have lost regardless, but McCoy is a class act.

[WolverineDG]

27. And almost lost to an 18 year old rookie QB nt

[Dhalgren]

29. Yeah, 37-21 damn! That's close!

.

[WolverineDG]

31. at one point, Texas was down by 3 nt

[Dhalgren]

33. At one point Alabama was down by 6.

I guess I don't get the point. If the game had ended when Alabama was down by 6 - Texas would have won. If the game had ended when Texas was down by three...oh...

[WolverineDG]

35. No, you don't get the point

Point is, Texas' star QB was out of the game after only 5 plays. Bama scored several times after that, giving them an almost 20 point spread at half-time. UT rallied in the 3rd quarter, coming within 3 points of overtaking Bama, including running a 2 pt conversion instead of a 1 pt field goal. All the while being led by an 18 year old rookie. That's pretty good playing in my book.

dg

[Dhalgren]

37. Texas is a great team. Some folks are trying to say they aren't.

Not me. I think that Texas is a very, very good team. As I said the score at the end is all that counts. Alabama could have lost the game - Texas is certainly good enough - with or without McCoy - I would not belittle their team, at all. I think this is a great win for Alabama - for the very reason that Texas is a great team. This idea that Alabama's win is somehow less because of one player is not a very fair way to view the teams involved. The fact that Texas came as close as they did just shows that. So I guess I still don't understand...

[chaplainM]

40. A "1 pt field goal?"

Is this something only the SEC rules feature?

[WolverineDG]

41. So fucking shoot me

I don't know the terminology. Jerk.

dg

[Shell Beau]

39. But they came back and whooped ass.

[WolverineDG]

24. I didn't realize that Harvard & Yale were in Alabama nt

[Dappleganger]

30. ROFL!

[JI7]

42. Alabama is bringing a lot of business to Los Angeles right now