With rush week going on in college Greek life across the country, I thought it would be appropriate to address an article I recently read titled, "8 Reasons Why I'll Never Date A Frat Boy." You can find that article here. The following are my thoughts on what is said in this article and in no way am I trying to offend anyone. I am simply just stating my opinion. I am writing this because I am tired of stereotypes of all kind.

1. "A fraternity is a breeding ground for sexual assault."

This is the very first point made in the article and I think the one that bothered me the most. Yes, it is true that sexual assault happens at frat parties or in frat houses, but why is that the first thing people always say when fraternities are brought up? YES, I get it, IT HAPPENS, but just because you are in a frat doesn't mean you are going to sexually assault someone. Just because you are at a frat party does not mean you are going to be sexually assaulted. Just because you belong to a frat does not mean you would do something like that. Stating things like this is following along with stereotypes. People always talk so much about how you shouldn't listen to race stereotypes or gender stereotypes, etc. Did people forget that social group stereotypes are the same thing? They are ALL STEREOTYPES. You are assuming something about a community of people that you know nothing about.

2. "Those stupid socials."

"He's going to go, whether you're with him or not. So, I guess you can sit at home and study while he's with the [insert sorority here] girls? Have fun with that." If you're dating someone and their fraternity is getting together with a sorority, why is that an issue? Is he not allowed to hang out with girls? And just because he is hanging out with girls does NOT at all mean he will try to go after one of them. Whether or not your theoretical frat boyfriend will go after a sorority girl at a party depends on his loyalty, not him being around other Greek life females.

3. "It's a white-centric culture. Do you really want to be associated with that?"

Excuse me? Not at my school.

4. "They're obnoxious."

The video provided under this section is private and unable to be viewed by the public. What I'm guessing the idea trying to be made is that perhaps they posted a racist or homophobic sign outside of their house, or were involved in some kind of horrible hazing scandal. Again, why is this assumed to be how everyone in Greek life acts? A life of Greek organizations are required to do service work. Now, is that obnoxious?

5. "Hazing."

As illegal as it is, this still happens, yes, but does that mean it happens EVERYWHERE, for everyone? Nope. It doesn't happen everywhere. When I asked a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, one of the seven IFC Fraternities on UNC Greenboro's campus, he said,"My fraternity, and UNCG have a strict no hazing policy, but that doesn't mean that there aren't people and other organizations on our campus and others who aren't as strict. But all in all Greek life is nothing like the movies." People do illegal, horrible things all the time. Obviously, that doesn't make them right, but whether or not that group of people chooses to do whatever they are going to do is completely up to them. People are aware this happens and it's being heavily cracked down upon in schools. If you don't want to be hazed and you hear that sorority or fraternity you're trying to get into hazes, why would you pledge that particular one anyways?

6. "Alcohol? Stay very far away."

I don't know how it works on other college campuses, but I know at my school the campus police get called at even the rumor of alcohol circulating to people who are underage. Also, just because someone is in greek life, AGAIN, does not mean that they do it.

7. "Party, party, party."

What is said in this section in the other article is this: "Does this one need to be explained? The only reason he's even dating you is to parade you around in front of his little frat brothers, like 'oh look, here's my latest.'' There's a difference between a fuckboy and a loyal guy. You should be able to figure out quickly which one your boyfriend is. What's wrong with a loyal boyfriend showing off his girlfriend?

8. "They're not really here to study."

Okay, maybe that's how it is at your school, but that doesn't mean that it's like that everywhere. Here is the picture the original article showed for this section, showing GPA for U of Tennessee-Knoxville Greek life students. 16% of UT Knoxville are involved in Greek life of the 30,000 students and UNCG has 14% involved in Greek life of the 19,000 students.

There are plenty of people across the country that are involved in Greek life that maintain 4.0 GPA's. When I asked a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, one of the seven IFC Fraternities on UNC Greenboro's campus, he said, "For my fraternity we must maintain a 2.7 GPA, and if you don't make grades, then first semester you go on probation. For the second semester, you are suspended from all fraternity events until you pull your grades back up." Greek life GPA requirements on UNCG's campus range from 2.5-3.0 cumulative GPA to be able to join and stay in the organization.