Alabama Version of 'Skull and Bones' Publicly Exposed

[jpak]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/alabama-version-skull-bones-publicly-exposed-34855198

The fabled Skull and Bones society is the stuff of lore at Yale University. Harvard University has Final Clubs, known as a grooming place for the rich and powerful.

In Tuscaloosa, a group called "The Machine" may not rise to Ivy League heights of prestige or mystique. But it's a powerful force at the University of Alabama, functioning within the shadows of what is billed as the largest community of fraternities and sororities on a U.S. college campus.

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Smith, a sophomore honors student from Huntsville, wrote that she no longer could be part of an organization that uses pressure and intimidation to control campus for the benefit of fraternity and sorority members, who comprise about 25 percent of the university's 36,000 students.

"It is a corrupt system. It suppresses people's opinions and they use a scare tactic to keep people on their side," Smith told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.

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