GDI... The acronym that makes all Greeks cringe. Commonly referred to as "geed," GDI stands for "God Damn Independent," or as I like to refer to it (in a more polite way) "Greek Deficient Individual." When I first joined the wonderland that is Greek life, my GDI friends constantly complained about how they never saw me out anymore, mainly at parties. I brushed it off and told them that I was so wrapped up in meeting new people that I was trying something else out.

Two years later, I still don't go to GDI parties.

Most of my friends, Greek or GDI, don't understand why I go out anyway considering I don't drink alcohol. Truth be told, I just love social interaction and it doesn't matter to me if I'm the only sober person at the party. So my geed friends whine and ask "how come you don't come out to (insert apartment complex title here) every once in a while? Why are you always at the frat houses?" For a good bit of my time, I couldn't explain why this was, even to myself. A short time ago I finally figured it out.

GDI parties scare me.

Is that silly? Maybe. But walking into a packed apartment where the only person I know is the friend attached to my hip will never be fun. These are the places where my rear end gets groped by some guy I've never seen before and he doesn't appear too remorseful even when I throw his hand off of me. Going to a small school, I've made some very tight friendships within Greek life, but even those people whom I'm not friends with, I'm still familiar with. When I go to a fraternity house, I'm not afraid of leaving my bottle of Gatorade laying around in case someone spikes it. I know no one would ever do that to me, because I know all of the people in the house. I also know that no one will ever mess with me, because if they do, 20 plus gentlemanly fraternity men will be there to stand up for me.

Last year, I witnessed a girl who I'd never seen before being sexually harassed at a party, and immediately she had a circle of Greeks around her for protection. A semester later, I had the same issue at a party with a GDI who was asking me to do things to him that should keep someone out of heaven just for saying them out loud, so I told one of the brothers who lived in the house and the creepy guy was immediately asked to leave. Once more, I was being followed around by a guy who kept touching me inappropriately and spewing profanities at me and a group of four fraternity men formed a protective circle around me and assured me that he would no longer be an issue.

You see, you don't have to be Greek to be my friend, but I am just not comfortable in a room full of strange people who I don't know the capabilities of. To all my GDI friends, I'm sorry I don't go out with you anymore. But being a very small girl in college I have to worry about my safety, and I know with my Greek friends I will always be not only safe, but also cared for.

To the rest of the world, I'm sorry that you have such a bad interpretation of Greek life. Come on over to Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania sometime and I'll show you over and over again just how wrong you are about us.