Beginning of SABU
William Hill and his friends were some of the original SABU memebers that pushed to make SABU a better organization. Through SABU and his contributions to the university, William Hill continues to be a great early influencer in Washington and Lee University's process of integration. During the beginning of SABU's rise, they found it difficult sometimes to progress forward in the most efficient way possible. One biggest struggle they ran into early was SAB's rejection of some of their early proposals.
Over the years, SABU struggled to get funding in any sense and decided to take a stand and not even request for funds that year. SABU decided that since the previous year they were given less than a third of what was asked for they would find their own outside funding.
As integration became more prevelant and the growth of SABU was clear in the student population, African American students decided to take a different route when it came to Greek Life. They decided to push for African American specific fraternities. While they were none currently on campus, some came over the next few years.
During William Hill's interview, he talks about the current culture of the African American community at that time. He talks about the struggle with getting funding because the university rejected the proposal. After a while they ended up getting funding for the Black Culture weekend but not nearly enough. Their first speaker was Representitive Doug Wilder was barely affordable but after having him on campus that introduced SABU to the university.
As SABU progressed, they were able to bring in more influential speakers to their meetings.