I agree with Sigepbrother.
I'm from Mi Theta(Lawrence tech) and i agree that there is a reason many many fraternities nationwide are adopting and developing something similar to the BMP. Not only that, but there is a reason that over 75% of SigEp chapters have gone to it. It is better than the traditional program.
At EDGE this spring, it was obvious which chapters were BMP and which weren't. During the programs and speeches, the BMP chapters would be quiet and listening, while the traditional chapters would be talking amongst themselves and making noise and generally being distracting. It wasn't one chapter in general, it was the 3 traditional chapters as a whole. They all acted the same. The traditional chapters to us looked kiddish, like they had no respect.
At fall EDGE, i remember a conversation i had with another brother. He said that at their chapter, somewhere in Ohio i think, their main way of getting their name out was to have huge parties to get people to join. They didn't have any formal programs or events for rush, they didnt know what to do. Not only that, but they had trouble even getting their brothers to come to GB. Did i mention they were a traditional chapter? talking to the brothers from the traditional chapters, they act like the stereotypical fraternity. There is a reason that so many sigep chapters are BMP. its more what sigep is about. brotherhood.
I know personally that our chapter is one of the closest bonded chapters of any ive seen. We have what we call Sacred heart, which is right after phi ritual, our whole chapter travels for the week to another chapter to bond with their chapter, see what their about, and to show our new members that sigep is not just one chapter, one location, that it is national. last fall(07) we had 59 our of our 61 brothers attend. the other chapter was amazed that we could get almost 100% of our chapter to donate their weekend to our brotherhood. also, at spring sacred heart, i remember talking to the VP of comm for the chapter we were at(bradley U, illinois delta) and he was like i didnt think you guys really meant that you would come and bring all your guys. i was like whys that? he said because they would never be able to get their guys to do that, to take a whole weekend to go somewhere. Not only that, but our chapter doesn't have a house, so its even harder, because its not like you can say ok everyone in the house has to go or whatever, everyone either lives in dorms or commutes to school. when we were talking at CLA, he was like yea sure whatever you guys can come for the weekend, but he didnt believe us.
i think that the BMP chapters are better than traditional, and they have better bonds than other chapters. instead of being so bonded and close with just your pledge chapter, we are bonded with our chapter as a whole.
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