“The object of our fraternity…” A phrase that begins my chapter meeting every Monday night as my brothers and I stand in unity pledging our hearts to fundamentals including intellectual, social, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

These values are not very different from those of the other 28 fraternities on Iowa State’s campus.

Does that mean that frat boys don’t exist?

No. I can go out on any given weekend and see the plague that gives the greek system a bad name.

However, on that very night I can see the same self-degrading characteristics in a student from the dorms, a group of students in a Stanton apartment or even a group hitting the keg after adjourning the weekly meeting of its academic organization.

The point being that this “frat boy” phenomenon doesn’t seem to be just a Greek issue, but more an issue of the continuously rotting values of our culture.

In late August I saw a billboard that proclaimed, “College campuses are the devil’s playground.” The devil is a well-known symbol for sin — sin being the disregard for a religious or moral law.

Isn’t moral law something that is derived from cultural norms and values? Therefore, do we not all have a duty to those that we meet on the street every day to help define and uphold some level of morals, whether we are greek or not?

Possibly I am just a single person that considers the changes that have taken place in our entire culture, as we seem to become less and less morally stable.

To me, this doesn’t mean necessarily that one can’t go out and socially have a drink.             Perhaps it means we should all take a moment and consider what effect our actions may have on ourselves and more importantly on others; these effects may not always seem clear, for society gives us so many examples of how not to live morally it seems that immorality has become the norm.

So I ask myself once again, after reading yet another article about the supposed ruins of greek life, why it is we are picked out of the crowd, labeled and ultimately stereotyped to the point that any guy with letters on his chest is just looking to get in someone’s pants?

Because it is easy. We already label ourselves as greeks — all anyone else has to do is look at the hungover “frat boy” missing an eyebrow from the night before to instantly stereotype and discriminate against all greeks.

I bet the same effects would take place if everyone from Freddy Court started wearing similar shirts proclaiming unity in brotherhood and sisterhood.

I ask both the 12 percent of greeks here at Iowa State and the other 88 percent of non-greeks to stop and understand the real issue. Let’s stop and consider this problem as a whole.

I guarantee that outside the city blocks we call greekland you will still find nothing but a culture fighting a battle against its own moral sin.

Jon Kempf is a junior in public service and administration in agriculture