Ninety percent of college takes place outside of the classroom. It’s in this part of the college experience — the unplanned, unstructured hours — that students discover their passions and plan their futures. For our brothers, much of this time is spent with their chapters — it’s where they build close bonds of friendship and learn how to communicate and work with others, to lead, and to speak in front of a crowd. Our brothers accomplish all of this through the Balanced Man Program (BMP). Watch this short video to learn more about the BMP and its benefits.
Philosophical Tenets
The Balanced Man Program is the centerpiece of the SigEp chapter experience and provides the experience that today’s student needs to be successful during and after college. The Balanced Man Program is a non-pledging, non-hazing, four-year, personal, academic, leadership and professional skills development experience. These tenets are rooted in the founding values of the Fraternity. They guide every aspect of the Balanced Man Program and must be in place before a chapter can effectively focus on implementation:
- Equal rights and responsibilities - Full membership upon joining
- Continuous development - Growing throughout life
- Accountability - Committing to SigEp’s high standards
- Living the Ritual - Incorporating SigEp’s values into everyday life
- Mentoring - Maximizing growth through guidance and support
Four Self-Paced Challenges
A challenge is a portion of the development experience that includes clear expectations, programs and opportunities for a brother to grow and develop. Challenges with time frames bring structure, competition, and fun to the membership experience. While the challenges are self-paced, they are not intended to make the fraternity experience an individual journey. Group and team activities are still critical for brothers to form bonds with others across the chapter. The concept of self-paced denotes attention to individual performance, needs and goals. Simply put, progression through each challenge is based on individual achievement and no member should be held up from further developing himself because certain members are less ambitious or goal-oriented. Every member should be encouraged and empowered to reach his full potential.
Areas of Development
To accomplish these outcomes a chapter should provide programming across five areas of development. These areas branch across every challenge and help members develop critical skills to succeed through college and beyond. Very few classes in college teach students how to properly transition into the "real" world. The Balanced Man Program helps fill this void. With quality developmental programming, our members will be more likely to succeed after college than their peers. Additionally, leadership programming and networking is a great opportunity to engage alumni in the development experience.
To learn more about implementing the Balanced Man Program, visit the vice president of member development's officer resource page.
The Modernized BMP
More than 30 years ago, SigEp’s Balanced Man Program revolutionized the fraternal world by ending pledging and offering continuous, self-paced development for every brother. Today, some SigEp chapters are piloting a modernized Balanced Man Program that is further adapted to the needs of today's students. Through fun and engaging group activities, the program enriches each brother’s life at every stage of his college journey, from acclimating to college as a freshman to graduating prepared for life after college. More information will be shared as the modernized program is further refined based on undergraduate feedback. You can view the focus areas of the modernized program here.
