Fifty years ago, John Blackburn, Dean of Men, created a Men’s Honors Program known as the Mallet Assembly. When Blackburn created the organization, he wanted to establish a group of students dedicated to innovative thinking and even a group that could be the future of the state of Alabama and beyond.

“His intentions were pretty clear,” said Mallet Minister of Information Stephen Cheek. “Blackburn wanted to create an environment that helped make leaders that could help speed along and ease the process of integration and create a more culturally open UA.”

Although Blackburn had planned to have a group of pioneers who would fight for desegregation, his legacy has formed into something else.

“We are about individuals making their own choices,” said vice president and resident advisor of Mallet Assembly, Chris Luehmann. “We are about self-discovery and self-growth. Sometimes without making bad decisions you can’t make good decisions.”

Fifty years later as they celebrate their anniversary, they celebrate the little things that make being a Malleteer worthwhile.

“You come to Mallet with your own ideas and your own passions,” said Max Hill, the Third Member of the Tribunal, Mallet Assembly’s Judicial Board. “It is guaranteed that there will be someone who feels the exact opposite and will be willing to challenge you everyday.”

Unlike many organizations on campus, once you become a Malleteer you can always be a member even after graduation from the University. Long after your time in Mallet Hall, fellow Malleteers will still welcome you.

“There have been numerous times that I have been traveling and looked up a Malleteer on the alumni list and stayed with people I have never met,” Luehmann said.  “You just call them up and say ‘Hey, I am a Malleteer and you’re a Malleteer. Can I stay on your couch?’”

Although the Mallet Assembly is a strictly UA campus organization with membership in the thousands, members are still capable of forming tight bonds according to Malleteers.

“Mallet truly is a family,” Luehmann said. “You know everyone that lives in the dorm and you get to know many of the alumni.  All you need to say is that you are a Malleteer and you are family.”

While the Mallet Assembly plays a large role in the UA community, they are in actuality a separate entity.

“When we created the Mallet Hall Resolution in 1970, we basically signed and created our Declaration of Independence from the University,” Hill said.