Some organizations have made the change to deeper learning about the organization (history, deeper understanding of mission) happening as an initiated member, as well, which helps with the shorter timelines, as long as new members get a good foundation. I find that even with a (only slightly, I am not that old) longer new member period, I only remember the frivolous stuff (like we were founded on a Monday) and the more important stuff came from being a collegian then alumna member.

I know our pledge period was decreased to hopefully decrease the amount of hazing that can be squeezed in and force chapters to really focus on the essentials of what makes the organization.

Sig Ep doesn't really even have pledging though, right? Balanced Man is a direction I thought all groups would go. Has it really had a huge impact as far as hazing and forcing chapters [can national programming really do that?] to focus on anything?

As of this academic year, we now have a standardized, mandatory 8 week program. Special exceptions can be made for universities where official campus policy about pledging periods make this problematic. Our new member program used to have several pacing options...8 weeks, 10 weeks, and 12 weeks.

Well, we still have pledge model chapters. Balanced Man chapters definitely have a lower hazing rate, but they're not perfect. The thing with the BM Program is that it's extremely flexible. So, there are BM chapters that basically function like pledge model chapters.

Nonetheless, HQ doesn't force any chapter to become a BM chapter. As long you're following the rules and taking care of your members right, pledge model or BMP, they're happy.

Plus, the BMP doesn't exactly force any new ideals onto a chapter since it's principles are tied to our Ritual.

Well thanks for that explanation. I've heard from other Sig Eps (mainly from the South) that BM was pretty much forced on them. It's an interesting model and I'm always looking for ideas to bring to my undergrad brothers. BM is probably the most well known membership training model out there, so it's worth knowing about.

My SAI chapter's membership recruitment/pledging process goes all year...we start during marching band in the fall (most of our members are in band, easiest to do it at the same time as TBS/KKPsi/PMA), and then by the end of the semester we get our bids, then spring semester is the membership process, and we just had initiation yesterday. (I'm a newbie!) From the pledging ceremony to initiation, it's a total of 8 weeks.

I know a lot of nearby chapters do a recruitment/initiation each semester; our chapter is only two years old, so we're still getting the hang of things in general.