Despite an historic election last month, the University of Alabama Student Government Association is currently stalled as Senate members refuse to allow its new president to choose his own chief of staff.

SGA President Elliot Spillers garnered a record-breaking voter turnout in March to become the school's second black president, but the SGA is now at a standstill after the Senate voted down two of his appointments and tried to force through their own pick.

Spillers is also the first non-Machine candidate to hold the office since 1986 (when now-Secretary of State John Merrill won), and many at UA say the senators opposing Spillers' appointments are taking Machine orders.

A chief of staff must be confirmed before other cabinet positions are filled, per UA SGA rules, and the cabinet must be confirmed before any other legislative action.

"It makes no sense to me," Spillers said Wednesday. "These arguments are tired. They're preventing themselves from doing any work, and it's not something I condone at all. It's a nuisance."

Political parties are illegal under SGA rules, but the Machine, an underground but well-known group of traditionally white fraternities and sororities, is thought to have controlled campus institutions for decades.

And though campus-level politics may not interest some outside of Tuscaloosa, former UA trustee Cleo Thomas said student politics shouldn't be ignored.

"It is the training ground for what we suffer now," Thomas, UA's first black SGA president, said in March after Spillers' election. "What we learn here, at the University of Alabama, affects how we govern Alabama. It is predictive, it is a forecast. It is more than just child's play."

Failed Appointments

Last week, the Senate voted down Spillers' first chief of staff appointment and a second appointment, Douglas Logan, was rejected Tuesday night.

Logan, who Spillers said was almost "overqualified" for the position, is a member of the Greek system and a former SGA senator who has previous experience running Machine-backed campaigns.

No senators who voted against Logan would explain their votes, and several senators contacted by AL.com did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

"I'm very proud that Elliot is our SGA President and hope UA will continue to support him during the upcoming year," Logan said of her appointment Wednesday.

Spillers said he anticipated resistance to his first nomination but was shocked when Logan was voted down Tuesday.

Between Spillers' two appointments, a group of senators attempted to push through their own chief of staff appointment but were forced to withdraw the resolution due to a clerical voting error, according to the United Alabama Project, a student-run political watchdog and advocacy group.

Spillers has now filed an official complaint with the school's Judicial Board, which he hopes will provide direction for filling the position. He doesn't see the point in putting up a third candidate while the Senate is being "intentionally stubborn."

"SGA can't function," he said, without a confirmed chief of staff. "SGA can't go forward with any of our initiative or projects, or any other appointed position. It's very stagnant. We can't go forward, we're not going back. We're just standing still until it's resolved."

Working with the Machine

Though supposedly underground, the Machine is well-known on campus and among alumni.

In an investigative series on the Machine during the 2011-12 school year, student newspaper The Crimson White confirmedthe Machine consists of upwards of two dozens Greek houses (in 2011, there were 28 member houses), each with a younger and an older representative who attend Machine meetings.

In their 2011 report, the CW confirmed each affiliated Greek house pay at least $850 a semester to fund the organizations, reps' bar tabs and an annual beach vacation.

In return, the group endorses candidates (primarily white males) for SGA senate and SGA executive offices and controls an impressive voting bloc.

SGA elections are not just contentious for UA students. The university's Faculty Senate frequently discussed the Machine and its influence during heated meetings in 2013 while dealing with the fallout of possible Greek tampering with a local school board election and the lack of diversity in the sorority system.

"It's not a place for the fainthearted," Thomas said in March. "Student politics at Alabama are as rigorous as student athletics. Football at Alabama is more than just children playing, there's something larger at stake. UA forecasts professional lives."

Thomas and Spillers were both successful in large part due to their relationships within the Greek system while still maintaining their independence.

"I don't care if you're [Machine] backed or not, just have freedom of thought. Think for yourselves," Spillers said. "What it comes down to, a lot of the senators are very young. And they're doing what they think is tradition, but it's just the Machine in their ear."

Thomas was known for garnering support among sororities, who supported the Machine at the time but were given little to no access to political office in return.

"You do not simply want to woo people by insinuating yourself into the Machine," Thomas said. "If that's what you're seeking to do, what's the point of it? You don't want to just be someone that holds the office, but you want to advance the community and institution morally and make it more upright. You want to gain office through a majority of open-minded people, and that's what Elliot was able to do."

Spillers said he knew the Machine would be an "obstacle" to deal with after the election, though he works closely with people within that system every day.

"I'm willing to work with them, but not for them," he said. "I've always said this, but not everyone in the Machine is as rumors say. But there is that small minority in there who want to keep this campus the way it's been for the past 40 years."

And although it's already been a contentious 10 days in office for Spillers, he said he's not worried about the year to come for his administration.

"I think this is the one thing they want to be adamant about, to use an iron fist on," He said. "But I can use an iron fist as well. They have to go through me if they want to get a bill passed. We have to have a relationship at some point, and I'm a firm believer that you can change hearts before you can change minds."