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]
Beta’s gonna be the next frat to abolish pledgeship. I’m calling it.
11 years ago at 8:17 pmThis better come up on the “Why your fraternity sucks: SigEp” article
11 years ago at 11:15 pmThey are officially geeeeds
11 years ago at 11:37 pm“The best time we’ll never want to do again”. TFM
11 years ago at 12:37 pmThis makes me sick
11 years ago at 1:23 pmIt’s sad to see this happen especially being a SigEp, the worst part of it all is joining as a freshman not knowing anything about Greek life and being sold into the whole, “balanced man program” idea. It wasn’t until a quarter in that I realized that this system simply did not work, it didn’t teach me any skills that pledges and candidates from other fraternities were learning. Whenever I would ask about why the only response I would get would be “its up to you its your own personal growth.” If I wanted personal growth I would’ve saved my dues and pushed myself to grow, which is what I’ve been resorting to for the past 3 years not.
11 years ago at 4:38 pmAlong with the BMP failing in character building in my chapter it takes so long to get letters that by the time you make it to Epsilon (the stage where you know full ritual and can wear letters) it becomes completely meaningless, I have brothers that took 2-3 years to get their letters and simply don’t even care anymore. To wait even an entire year is way too long, people wear out and stop caring, it’s sad to see especially since once you rush and accept a bid you can’t go back. I am a man of my word which is why I’ve stuck by my decision but I believe it to be extremely deceitful when you can’t go back and actually join a real fraternity and go through pledging a process that has been working for over 150 years.
Gentlemen, the sky is not falling. The implementation of the BMP in 1990 didn’t start a chain reaction of fraternity pussification, so there’s no reason to believe this will. This is really nothing more than a PR stunt on the part of Sigep, and I doubt anyone in the organization thinks this will change much at the local level.
What we should be worrying about are the idiots whose lack of discretion and responsibility led to the need for PR stunts like this in the first place.
11 years ago at 6:55 pmUsing a kid who has never experienced fraternity life as a spokesperson. That said, sigep at USC used to be a great fraternity, like so many others they have done away with. Might as well be beta now. So sad.
11 years ago at 1:30 am