balanced man vs traditional

[sigep919]

I was just wondering who here is at a balanced man chapter and who is at a traditional chapter and what they thought about the change from traditional to BMP. Do you think that it's for the best or just something nationals likes because it helps our image. How would you compare a traditional chapter to a BMP chapter?

[MafiaCSUS]

Traditional and BMP chapters have some differences, but when it comes right down to it, they should be the same. Sure, there is no trial membership in BMP, and it does take longer to know all the ritual, but it is all the same. SigEp does not promote hazing (of course) so even traditional shouldn't have it. Our chapter went BMP about 5 years ago, mainly because we were in trouble of losing our charter. Our chapter was dying and we were not excelling in anything, whatsoever. Now we have about 60 men, Dean's Trophy Winners, Intramural winners and highest GPA... not to mention 2 reps on the student governing board. We really are balanced men, like we should be.
Joe
California Theta

[SigEp God]

Its all the same. Just a marketing move on nationals part. I think we should all go back to being traditional chapters. It seems like the numbers for most chapters were bigger when they were traditional. Anyhow, My chapter has always been BMP. I like it, but sometimes I wonder how it would be if we were traditional. At my school, $220 is about 1/6 of what you pay for tuition. Its hard to get people to dish out the $220. But once we get over that hump its not too bad.

Emil

[SigEpVegan]

Going back to a traditional chapter is a terrible ideal. I don't understand how you can make such an extrodinary statement when your chapter has always been bmp. The BMP is probably the only reason SigEp has shown growth of 1% over the past five years while all other fraternities have shown an average of 5% decline.

And for your marketing statement. Yes, it is a marketing move. They are selling that being in SigEp will make you a better person both physically and mentally. It is all about promoting better brothers that makes the better image. Read pg 105 in The Lifetime Responsibilities of Brotherhood to see how important perception is.

I have gone through a traditional system and was treated as a subclass member. That is not what SigEp is about. I was hazed and I can bet you the majority of traditional chapters do as well.

[33girl]

Originally posted by SigEpVegan
Going back to a traditional chapter is a terrible ideal. I have gone through a traditional system and was treated as a subclass member. That is not what SigEp is about. I was hazed and I can bet you the majority of traditional chapters do as well.

I know this isn't my forum, but don't assume, because when we assume we make an ASS out of U and ME. To make that kind of assumption is very degrading to your brothers just because they don't do the same thing you do.

Anyway, I had meant to ask this before. My sorority (ASA) is going to a new pledge program called ASA Advantage that sounds a lot like Balanced Man, from what I have read about it. Our old program was everything done in a group, now this is more work on your own and at your own pace and has several different stages. I'm glad we are getting rid of the old one, but this sounds like it might be going too far the other way - like everyone just goes off in their own directions and building unity is hard. Also, we are not being given the choice to do this like you guys were - it was put into place by national council, period.

Guess I'm just looking for some feedback on your program, to help me understand mine.

[SigEp God]

Hey Vegan,

The balanced man program is a very, very good program. The main problem I have with it is that "tradition" is what makes fraternities strong. Well it makes local chapters strong. That has been the hardest thing to do here at my chapter. We have a hard time tryng to build tradition. Everytime we do something, you have at least one guy say "well, I'm not a pledge I don't have to do it." Someone said this to me the other day, I was like who the hell called you a pledge? YOu know, Unity and Tradition are two thing that make fraternities strong. We have been balanced man our entire history. I would like the chance to try it, so that atleast I can say "I was from a traditional chapter, I know what it is like, and Balanced Man Project is so much better." I don't know man. Right now I am Chapter President. It's been real hard for us. REAL HARD!

got to go. I'll write more later.

Emil
spe_raider@yahoo.com

email me if you would like to get into details

[SigEpVegan]

Ah, I see your point. Well for that matter traditional is a term nationals don't even use. The use Balanced Man Program Chapters and Non-Balanced Man Chapters. The twelve founding fathers didn't have pledging as far as I know. It is not a tradition of sigep but rather a tradition of Theta Delta Chi. Every chapter needs traditions but there are good ones and bad ones. Your chapter needs to find it's identity make good traditions in the BMP without looking at the obsolete.

One thing we do for new members is an activity called "Brother in Need" or BIN until they witness it.

The New members are lined up blind folded in a semi circle and the rest of the brothers complete the circle filling in the back if necessary. Three brothers are in push up position. The VP Development gives the cue to go and the brothers start doing push ups. He then tells the new members to remove their blind folds. When a brother gets tired he yells "Brother in Need". and another brother comes to his aid and does his pushups for him. This continues until the New members help a brother in need, then applause commences out of the silence.

It is a good activity to promote the fact that we are here for each other whenever we may call. Blindfolding isn't hazing them because we have a right to keep secrecy of some events like the ritual, and we aren't asking them to do anything any other brother isn't willing to do.

[SigEpVegan]

Yeah my chapter too was made and is being made again to go BMP. It is work at your own pace and it is probably the basis of your development scheme. I understand that you don't get the same pledge unity but why do pledge events when you can have a brotherhood event and have everyone get to know each other better. Look at it this way. When I went through I was responsible for all of my pledge brothers. I could know everything down pat and if they missed anything I would be the one doing fifty push ups on the floor. Moving at your own pace is good and it encourages the ability to recruit people who have less time or a hard to work around schedule like music majors and athletes. And your not doing it alone you should have a mentor at your side. There can be group activities for one development stage but everyone has the ability to move up when it's their time. I can't stand putting through worthless brothers because they learned some history and were made slaves for 8 or 10 weeks. I'd rather they earned it by bettering themselves and the chapter. If you think it's gonna cause problems with unity then have retreats and unity activities so it benifits not only new members but the organization as a whole.

[SigEp God]

Here is the thing,

Guys that join around the same time usually end up running the fraternity at the same time. I joined in Feb. or 99. I am chapter president, all of the guys on my exec board joined either one semester before or one semester after I did. When you pledge together, you have to work together to accomplish goals and when you fail everyone loses. The BMP project seperates the guys that otherwise should be pledging together and keeps them from learning valueable lessons about teamwork and about eachother that they should have learned during their pledge ship. They are forced to work with eachother on the execboard having very little experince and knowledge of eachother. Plus, you can have pledge activities and still have brotherhood events. Like I said there is good things and bad things in each of the programs. For development purposes I would have to agree that BMP is best, but for the purpose of teaching men of the same class to work together, to set and accomplish goals, I think that the traditional style fraternity promotes that the best. A combination of both would probably be best, if they didn't contradict eachother.

EMil

[SigEpVegan]

OK, one there is nothing wrong with doing events with your development group. As a matter of fact it is good to learn from others who are in the same situation but we all have our individual journey. You Challange Coordinators can plan events for only simgas, phis, epsilons, or brother mentors. The activities don't have to be open to all parties. And I agree most serving on exec. board do come within a semester but that wouldn't be all of the exec. and you would still probably be better off in a entire brotherhood event.

[MafiaCSUS]

My chapter, California Theta has risen from the dust since we have changed to BMP. We we 'forced' to go BMP because of our lack of direction. But let me remind people, the BMP does not make you lose 'tradition' it simply takes away useless ones. I know my chapter has been part of both phases... and we still have brothers that are active from the traditional chapter. We lost a lot of 'traditions' but instead we have recreated them to have meaning. I know some chapters around here that started BMP are having some troubles finding some kind of 'tradtion' they could have... but that is such a bad perception.

Without getting into too much more deatil about so called 'tradition' let me tell you about my chapter. We are BMP. When we started BMP we had 12 men, a 2.1 GPA prior to switching. Now we have close to a 3.0 GPA (0.50 higher than any other fraternity). We have won IM's 2 of the last 3 years. Current IM champs, football, basketball (3 on 3 and 5 on 5), Deans Trophy 5 of the last 6 years, Greek Man of the Year a lot of times, Greek Scholar, President of the Year, current president of IFC and Order of Omega, won numerous philanthropies and we have had mixers with the top 3 sororities on campus this semester alone. To top it off, we have 58 men and we are assuming we will top 70 within a year. Now even though BMP may seem it has its 'downsides', the problem is not tradtion, it's implementation... how does your chapter implement the system.

Anyway, as a man from a chapter that has come from the roots of a traditional chapter, the BMP is an obvious advantage over traditional... not to mention, the ritual is ultimately EXACTLY the same... so nothing changes.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Sig Eps came back to U of Illinois a few years ago with BMP. They had been kicked off in '95 for reasons that I can't post publicly (but PM me if you really care). This past year at Greek Excellence Awards, they were the top chapter, the best GPA, and their president was named outstanding president. Those are three of the top honors.

I was once told by their recruitment chair that they bid almost every guy who rushes, because they believe that no matter what that man's weaknesses are, the chapter is strong enough to help him overcome them. In short, the chapter makes the man, not the other way around.

They moved back into their original chapter house this year because they finally got enough members. I have never seen a chapter do so well in so short a time.

[SigEp God]

Not to be cynical or anything,

but the reason I posted my first question was so that I could stir up a conversation about the BMP program. Vegan put up a very good argument for everything that I threw up on the message board(good job.) Also Delta Baby made a very brought up a good point about bidding most everyone that wants to rush. The Bmp Program is so detailed that it can work to make anyone an outstanding, productive member both academically and socially. We have bidded some guys that at first weren't exactly what you call "SigEp" material. But because of our development program they have turned into some of our most outstanding members. My chapter had three men last semester. Right now we sit at 23. Next semester we should be between 35 and 40. I attribute our much of our success to the BMP project because it has allowed us to structure our fraternity in a manner that allows all members to participate and grow together. We are making a move on IFC. We expect that we will occupy both President and V.P. recruitment chairs in IFC. We have done over 600hours of community service. Our G.P.A. is up. A lot of it has to do with the way our development program (BMP) is structured. The Balance Man Project is amazing. It is the reason SigEp continues to grow. Vegan, youre the man. I can tell you have a deep understanding of both the three cardinal principals and the BMP Project.

Emil

[SigEpVegan]

For those who keep on saying the ritual is almost the same:

Well as of this conclave it is. The only difference is that in BMP they see peices before it is all done. Non-Balanced Man Chapters now have Brother Mentor as well.

And I like some debate. I used to be a hate of the BMP my first semester as a brother when I found our what it was at carlsons. I hope whoever reads this will get something out of it or add comments if they wish to correct me.

[MafiaCSUS]

Ritual has always been the same... HQ's is just putting it all in one book now and changing a little bit of the wording. As of last conclave, ever SPE chapter will now get the SAME book, with instructions on how to split it up if youre BMP