SigEp Becomes First Fraternity To Completely Dissolve Pledging By Way Of Undergraduate Vote
Yesterday, at Sigma Phi Epsilon’s 54th Grand Chapter Conclave, undergraduate brothers passed a resolution to replace the pledging process nationwide with the “Balanced Man Program.” The BMP was first introduced back in 1990, and by the end of the 2014-2015 school year, 215 of the 228 active SigEp chapters had already adopted the program, but Thursday’s decision made the fraternity the first to officially abolish pledging by way of undergraduate vote rather than a top-down mandate.
From SigEp.org:
“The modern fraternity world is broken,” [Max] Fowler [South Carolina ’15] said. “Hazing allegations, mortalities, substance abuse and a number of other serious issues riddle fraternity chapters across the country. Society needs to see that the American college fraternity is still relevant, and we have to show them SigEp is leading the charge.”
New members will have full rights the day they accept their bid: chapter, ritual, intramurals, etc. Anything a four-year brother can do on behalf of the letters, so can some punk who just walked out of high school.
Unfortunately, I fear this is exactly where all fraternities will eventually go over the next few decades, adapting to the modern social climate. My unborn kid will most likely never have the opportunity to go through the pledging process, which I still stand by as the best experience I’d never want to do again. And that’s a damn shame..
[via SigEp.org]
Fuck.
10 years ago at 10:40 amIt worked well for SAE here at OU..
10 years ago at 10:44 amShut the fuck up nerd
10 years ago at 11:02 amMost of those dudes were there before but nice try
10 years ago at 11:03 amProbably just did this so the new transgender members wouldn’t be hazed as much.
10 years ago at 10:45 amThis is a true shame. As a man who owes everything to being put straight by the pledging process (in a SigEp chapter, no less) I am sad that our chapter has become the beacon of what is wrong with our society: a sense of unearned entitlement and a tendency to overcorrect.
For too long, everyone has been able to get a trophy or go pass/try again in order to not hurt anyones feelings. The problem is that you learn the most about life and who you are as a person through trials, tribulations, and failing. If you never experience failure, you can never truly appreciate accomplishment.
As for our tendency to overcorrect, there is never a black and white answer to any of societies woes. When you pull the lever of correction all the way, you just create another problem someplace else. Everything is a matter of balance and calibration. Are there immature people who let the power that comes from being above pledges go to their heads and abuse it. Of course. However, those are usually in the minority.
When pledging is done right, it is a grueling and intense process but the respect and care that you feel for your letters and your brotherhood because you earned them is something that cannot be duplicated.
Yes, you will be sore and tired when you finish pledging. But those memories soon fade when they are replaced by the lessons and friendships that you forged with your brothers during the process.
I am still damn proud to be a SigEp. I will always love my fraternity and my brothers. But I think that we were wrong on this decision and I think that the greek community on the whole will suffer because of it. For that, I am sorry.
10 years ago at 10:46 amYou need a hobby or something.
10 years ago at 10:52 amVdbl brother I couldn’t agree more
10 years ago at 11:12 amI’m with you 100%. I found it interesting that when our chapter went under for hazing allegations, the new “balanced men” still practically begged to be hazed. Fraternity earned is much sweeter than fraternity given.
10 years ago at 12:56 pmWhat have we come to gentleman.
10 years ago at 8:15 pmWe all know those freshman that come in and say “I like the idea of a Fraternity but I couldn’t stand taking orders from guys my age, telling me what to do and shit.” And for the most part those aren’t the kind of guys you want in your Fraternity anyways. This gives those 18 year old punks who think they have it all figured out somewhere to go.
10 years ago at 10:48 amSig Ep, Where the highschool hero lives on
10 years ago at 10:48 amEvery campus has “that chapter”
10 years ago at 10:42 pmThere is a reason why a lot of actives will say that pledging is both the worst and best times of their lives. This is a real shame.
Really this all comes down to insurance. The main reason SAE dropped pledge ship is because they couldn’t get insured anymore and that’s what they did to get insured. I’ve said it a million times that insurance liability and political correctness are slowly destroying America.
10 years ago at 10:49 amThis
10 years ago at 11:00 amThanks but there is a button for that.
10 years ago at 11:12 amSo what is your solution then? Force an insurance company to insure them? Not allow the family to sue the organization? Put a cap on the damages that can be received? It’s pretty easy to put a problem out there and not have a solution for it.
10 years ago at 11:37 amI personally think the best solution is instead of having a huge insurance policy on the national organization and its member chapters that you instead take individual policies out on individual chapters. My fraternity’s national organization has a great insurance policy right now because we are good at risk management but our chapter still takes out an individual policy because we would rather have more control of our chapter rather than rely on our nationals. The biggest problem with my plan however is that it becomes harder to new chapters to start up if they cant rely on the national organizations insurance.
10 years ago at 11:56 amPretty good take but I feel like the National Orgs would push back on that pretty hard. If nationals can pull the insurance on a chapter that can be the nail in the coffin on many unless the alumni suck it up and fit the bill. I wouldn’t put my name on that when all it takes is one idiot to screw up and you’re looking at a $10 million dollar tab dead in the face. However, if you can get an individual policy that is spectacular. When it comes down to it the ol’ “don’t be a re’tard” rule should be lived by all members.
10 years ago at 12:05 pmYeah I agree that most national organizations would never go for this idea. I was just saying what would probably be the best way to handle this situation for everyone. But at the same time I understand we don’t live in a utopia and this would probably never happen.
10 years ago at 12:09 pmI have a fantastic solution. Hang every liberal.
10 years ago at 6:18 pmSo you’ve said this a million times, or has Ron Paul said this a million times?
10 years ago at 2:47 pmBoth. We have also never been called young and disappointing before either.
10 years ago at 4:58 pmSigEp will soon be a non-hazing transgender co-ed club
10 years ago at 10:52 amBatting 2 for 3 right now.
10 years ago at 11:25 amThey’ve thrown out the baby with the bath water. Deaths, forced substance abuse, and the truly sadistic “hazing” by some guys should not be part of the pledging process. But responsible actives should be able to eliminate those behaviors without eliminating the entire process.
10 years ago at 10:55 amWith pledging, you get rid of the bad apples too. Through the pledging process, actives discover who the pledges really are. Now every psychopath that can make a good first impression will be a brother, I hope this back fires them in some way.
10 years ago at 10:57 amYou also get rid of the guys that just want the blocks and parties. We had 3 guys drop to go and rush sig ep and sae the next semester, due to them not having pledging for a few years on my campus, as soon as they learned that they were only pledges and had to actually work for it.
10 years ago at 6:21 pm