Recruitment FAQ

What is Hazing? Will I be Hazed?

• Hazing in fraternity life is defined as an act in which active members force new members to perform certain acts which may be inappropriate, immoral or illegal. Everyone has heard the horror stories or read the newspaper articles which give fraternities a poor reputation. Sigma Alpha Epsilon at BGSU prides itself on being a fraternity which is entirely haze-free. In fact, most of our members say one of the reason they decided to join was because they did not want to be worried about being hazed when joining another fraternity. Sigma Alpha Epsilon has a phenomenal nation-wide anti-hazing system which the BGSU chapter takes very seriously and makes every effort to incorporate into our new member program.
• Here is what you WILL NOT see occurring in our chapter:
• Any form of physical or mental harm or embarrassment in any way, shape, or form.
• The use of alcohol or drugs as a rite of passage, a form of peer acceptance, or requirement of our brotherhood.
• Activities that purposefully deprive you of sleep, study, or personal enjoyment.
• Activities that attempt to create a sense of obedience or authority towards our active members.
• Activates that are asked of you for the sheer gain of individual members; in other words, running favors for other members.
• Requiring that you only spend your personal time with our members; in other words, telling you who you may associate or be friends with and who you may not.

The True Gentleman? What is this all about?

• The True Gentleman is our fraternity's creed. This is one of the main reasons our fraternity exists. It is not only seen as a creed, but has become an expectation for the way of life of our members.

Besides The True Gentleman, what other things are important to the fraternity?

• There are a number of values that are important to our fraternity, but some of the most important are Leadership Development, Community Involvement, and your Personal Growth as a valued member of society.

Joining a fraternity cost too much. I don't think I can afford it.

• We won't beat around the bush; there is a financial element which goes into joining a fraternity. But on the flip-side, you benefit from everything you put into the fraternity. National dues pay for things that aid every member, such as receiving your membership badge, funding full-time SAE staff members who advance the fraternity, and setting up programs that chapters benefit from. Local chapter dues pay for things like taking chapter trips and retreats, gas reimbursements, house furniture, social event decorations, and much more. Everything the chapter spends money on, our members benefit from

I have a feeling that joining a fraternity will have a serious effect on my academics. How does ΣΑΕ prevent that?

• While joining any fraternity adds on extra responsibilities to your life, ΣΑΕ has a scholarship program which helps its members achieve academic excellence. Our program involves attending study tables, receiving fraternity incentives for doing well academically, and loosing privileges for poor academics after two semesters in a row. We realize that sometimes people have a bad semester, so we do everything we can to help our brothers do well and recover from those low points.

I've seen a lot of movies with 'frats' in them, and that isn't really my lifestyle.

• Good, because it's not ours either. One of the greatest aspects of our fraternity is that we have such a large cross-section of brothers. We have men of different majors and interests, religions, political views, backgrounds, and so forth. Sigma Alpha Epsilon does not have a stereotype like you might see in the movies (or even in other actual fraternities). We are all different men linked together by our desire to push upon one another that values of The True Gentleman.