Sigma Phi Epsilon - Missouri University of Science & Technology

mo gamma FALL 2024 INSIDE THIS ISSUE MO Gamma Pride Presidents Report Bonds Stand the Test of Time "Are you proud of your experiences as a MO Gamma SigEp?" I reflected on a similar question my golf buddy asked me after he told me about his fraternity escapades at UGA back in the late 1960s. I had been asked similar questions in the past, and usually felt somewhat reluctant to answer due to the Animal House perception most people had of fraternities. Could I make a strong argument that my fraternity was different? Could I convince him if I threw out the virtue, diligence, and brotherly love values that our SigEp Founders developed as their selling point to the Richmond College faculty when Carter Ashton Jenkins told the faculty, "This fraternity will be different?" Should I explain that we replaced our pledge program with a Balanced Man Program, for fear of diminishing what I thought was the most important semester of my college days? When I reflected on my encounter, I began to realize I was biased toward my pledge experience, and I began to wonder how many others like me ask themselves this question: "How can the younger BMP brothers have the same sense of pride in their Chapter and in SigEp that I have?" I realized my bias needed to be challenged, as I knew little about the BMP experience. Why did it change? What exactly is the BMP? And what do BMP brothers feel about their experience? My quest led me to reading all the BMP documents, talking with our National leaders, current and past Chapter officers, and three groups of Father/Son MO Gamma brothers who experienced both programs: Greg '90/Jeremy '22 Flieg, Mike '86/Luke '19 Lohman, and Kevin '83/ Kyle '18 Anders. Through this time, I have learned more than just the facts; read on… TIME FOR A CHANGE Deaths from fraternity hazing-related incidents began making national news in the 1990s and continued over the next two decades. Fraternities were being suspended from campuses, society was changing, and young men were not drawn to fraternities with the same vigor as they once were. Our SigEp National Board of Directors recognized the ensuing issues and began developing an alternative replacement program to the pledge/ hazing model. And in 1993, they rolled out the first BMP as an optional program that Chapters could adopt. But the acceptance by Chapters was not without its issues, and it wasn't until 2006 that MO Gamma began using the program. It wasn't until 2015 that undergraduates at the Grand Conclave voted to make BMP the standard for all SigEp Chapters, becoming the first national fraternity to eliminate pledging and hazing. THE PROCESS The Balanced Man Program is divided into four phases (known as "Challenges"), which focus on various areas of development and which are spread out over the four years of college. The first is the Sigma Challenge, which focuses on learning about your Chapter and how to deal with university life; Kyle Anders '18 explains, "The BMP is very involved, especially the first challenge (Sigma) during our first semester, when we had to interview and learn all about the older brothers, our SigEp and MO Gamma history, governance and operations of our Chapter, our AVC and National, and began to learn about SigEp values." During the next two semesters, new members go through the Phi Challenge, which begins to focus more on personal development, by Dave Naeger '80 SIGEP – MO GAMMA PRIDE From left: Dakota Snyder '26, Jacob Lehman '26, and Ryan Ewald '26 proudly present their award- winning hand-carved hearts, completed during their Phi Challenge earlier this year. (Continued on page 2)

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