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I understand where you are coming from, and what happened to you and several of your members was and is unfortunate. Something similar is happening to the chapter from which I graduated. Nationals has put us on probation for one year becasue we are currently under 40 members. Considering what happened to you and the other members, it sounds like the actions that Nationals has taken seem to be appropriate. Face it, you were hazing pledges, and you got caught. SigEp as well as every other fraternity has a zero tolerance policy on hazing. There is no place for that in SigEp, nor any other GLO. It only makes us all look bad and further endangers a system that is already in jeopardy.
First of all, let me say that this former pledge that launched this allegation is by no means a "pussy." He did the hard thing, fingered his friends, and took the moral high ground. Second, you need to do a little brushing up on your GLO history. I'm sure your current traditions which led to the allegations haven't been going on for 90 years, because hazing did not become prevalent until after World War 2 when former soldiers attended college under the GI Bill. Chapter traditions are only as old as your oldest member. Third, there is nothing wrong with the Balanced Man Program. I know of several chapters that were on the brink of ruin, went Balanced Man, and became the strongest chapters on campus. In fact, many other fraternities and sororities are looking at the Balanced Man Program as a blueprint to redesign their own new member programs. This "late night work off" does not sound like something nationals would approve of. This pledge recognized that, as well as the fact that our fraternity is supposed to be based on brotherhood. It sounds like he has a better concept of it than you do.
Why do you feel the only way to teach the concepts of virtue, diligence, brotherly love, and HFF is to haze pledges? There are other, more constructive ways to teach these concepts. Keep in mind, our founding fathers were seminary students. Their purpose for founding SigEp was to have a special bond relating to each other as brothers and study their religion together, not beat the crap out of each other and impose "late night work offs". The next time your are doing something questionable, ask yourself, "Would our founding fathers approve of this?" It sounds to me from your original posting the answer to that question is a resounding "no."
Finally, regarding your remark about "if this is the direction our fraternity is headed nationally, I feel sorry for all of us", you've got that all wrong too. SigEp has a strict policy regarding hazing, and this is it: if you haze, you lose your charter....period. I think if they let your chapter slide on this, then SigEp doesn't stand by its own regulations. That is a sign of weakness, and the first sign of an organization that is falling apart. I for one am proud that SigEp is sticking to it's guns on this one. We are all brothers, but we must have some amount of accountability. Nationals is only holding your chapter accountable, which is the right thing to do. And while I am sorry for what happened to you and some of your other brothers, there is a saying: you made your bed, and now you have to lie in it.
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