Named in honor of Past Grand President, Edwin Buchanan, Ohio State 1911, the Buchanan Cup represents superior and sustained achievement in our Fraternity. The Buchanan Cup, or “Buc Cup”, recognizes the best-of-the-best Sigma Phi Epsilon chapters. Chapters are measured in relation to the accomplishments of their peers on campuses across the country. Only the chapters that excel in every area of operations and further the Grand Chapter’s strategic plan qualify for this high honor.
An engraved silver or gold bowl is presented to Buchanan Cup winners at the Grand Chapter Conclave. Chapters winning five consecutive Buchanan Outstanding Chapter Awards receive an engraved gold bowl, symbolizing a decade of excellence.
Application
The 2025 Buchanan Cup application — which measures chapter performance from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024 — is now available on your mySigEp platform! The completed application and all supporting documentation must be received by March 1, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. Late submissions will not be considered. For more information on how to access, complete and submit this year’s Buchanan Cup application, access the following “Apply for the Buchanan Cup” help guide here.
As you begin working on your application, you will find:
- All data fields will be pre-populated with the information already on file for your chapter or that you previously submitted to Headquarters. You only need to review that data and answer the open-ended questions to provide context or color commentary.
- You can upload letters of recommendation from key volunteers and stakeholders.
- The ability for multiple members of your chapter to work together toward completion while being able to save answers and return to them later. Additionally, your volunteers will have access to review the application in real time and help you stay on pace to submit before the deadline.
Buc Cup Eligibility & SigEp Learning Community Accreditation
In the fall of 2019, the National Board of Directors determined that chapters must be a fully accredited SigEp Learning Community to be eligible for Buc Cup consideration. For the 2025 Buc Cup awards, your chapter must have earned SigEp Learning Community accreditation after June 2023.
If the chapter’s most recent accreditation was before June 2023 and the chapter needs to renew their status, or if the chapter has never been accredited as a SigEp Learning Community, SigEp Learning Community applications must be submitted on mySigEp before January 17, 2025, for consideration ahead of the 2025 Buc Cup application process.
To review your chapter’s SigEp Learning Community accreditation status, visit your chapter dashboard on mySigEp.
Chapters that have not earned SigEp Learning Community accreditation by the March 1 deadline can still submit the Buc Cup application. These chapters will receive feedback from the review committee on strengths and areas of improvement in their chapter operations, but will not be eligible for the award.
Review Process:
For chapters planning to apply for the 2025 Buchanan Cup, please reference this evaluation rubric to see what is considered ‘excellence’ in each area of operations. A version of this rubric is used by the volunteers who will be reviewing all applications.
FAQ:
mySigEp is a digital space to manage information, interact with your chapter or AVC and easily log in to your other SigEp platforms like greekbill and access the Buchanan Cup application. You can find resources on the platform and information on how to access mySigEp here.
Every chapter officer and volunteer logged in mySigEp will have access to the Buchanan Cup application, and everyone with access can make changes or additions to the application. All changes are automatically saved. If someone else in your chapter needs access, you can assign them a new, temporary role as a “Buchanan Cup Application Committee Member” in mySigEp.
I reviewed the pre-populated data in my chapter’s application and it is incorrect. What should I do?
The data points you are seeing in your application are calculated based on various actions taken by chapter officers such as reporting new members, updating members to a resigned status, conducting a Balanced Man Scholarship cycle, converting a BMS applicant to be a potential new member, etc. The first open-ended question of each section that references a dashboard allows you an opportunity to provide color commentary or context on the data. For example, if your new members show 0 and your campus was on a recruitment moratorium, you should provide that context in the respective question’s response field. You will have the ability to edit/upload academic results from prior semesters on the academic dashboard, as well as supplemental documentation in the final section of the application. If you run into any issues during the application process, or feel the data on the dashboards are inaccurate, you should email support@sigep.net for support, well in advance of the deadline, to troubleshoot the concern.
The review period for this application encompasses the 2023 and 2024 calendar years only. Please limit your answers to just that time period and make note of the awesome things you’re doing right now for your 2027 application!
Absolutely! For recommendation letters, send this form to the individuals you are requesting letters from. The letter will be uploaded anonymously and chapters will be unable to see the contents of the letter in the event an individual would like to keep the contents of their letter anonymous. If anonymity is not required, after receiving the letter, chapters may complete the form linked above on their behalf. Upon successful submission, you will see the latest upload date of the letter on the supplemental documents section of your application.
Please follow the directions at the bottom of this page.
A diverse group of longtime, experienced SigEp volunteers are asked by the Grand President to review all applications. These volunteers follow a formalized process to assess each chapter’s application as compared to the review rubric. After the process is complete, their recommendations are given to the National Board of Directors, who make the ultimate decision on whether or not to award a Buchanan Cup.
If you have any questions about the Buchanan Cup, please reach out to Stacy Nicodemus, Programs & Events Director.
Wondering if your chapter has previously won a Buc Cup? You can search here!
