I was talking to this girl I’ve been starting to see about driving with me in my $15,000 Lexus back to the suburbs of Chicago between “frat functions” this weekend when I saw Jess Eide’s letter to the Daily. That was when it hit me: I don’t even have a car, my parents have never employed me and I live in Iowa. As for the girl that I’m starting to see: I’m really seeing a guy. And then I realized Kohne Gitchel is also from Iowa, not Illinois. So much for Mr. Eide’s perception of the greek community.

The ISU greek community fits Eide’s views as much as anything in life fits mine. Yes, we have “frat functions,” but no more than those living on campus have hall meetings and “house events.” And though we have functions, attendance is mandatory at few events. Between work, classes and on-campus activities, there are few guys in my house who have time to worry about “Animal House.” However, “Animal House” is one of the most common sources of misinformation on the greek system.

When I looked at how many members of the ISU greek community I know that are from Illinois, it was somewhere around 8 percent. When I asked around my house for those who had been employed by their fathers before attending college, the only ones been had worked on the family farm. (Apparently Jess Eide is against family farms).

When I checked how many guys in my house are having their education paid for by their parents the answer was only two guys. The rest are here on scholarships, grants, loans and work. One guy in our house works 35 hours a week, every week. Another is a National Merit Scholar. On top of this, it is cheaper to live in our house than to live in the dorms.

When looking at the diversity of the greek system, Iowa State does not have statistical data on record but the chapters I am around and my own gave some surprising (unscientific) results: Roughly 8 percent of greek members are not from the continental United States. A rough statistic of 6 percent of the ISU greek system is lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning.

My house does not fit Eide’s sarcasm on diversity. We have 22 majors in five colleges. Our members come from large cities and small towns. We have guys from three countries besides the United States, and two from U.S. territories. Twelve percent of the guys in my house have a language other than English as their first language. Less than half of my house is Republican, less than half is Democrat. Independents,libertarians, socialists and anything else you can think of fill that remainder. Our dinner conversations tend to be discussions about current issues from sports to the GSB, from foreign affairs to happenings in the residence halls, and also events within and around the greek community.

Before stereotyping the ISU greek community, remember that anyone can stereotype and anyone can be stereotyped. Moving beyond our society’s nomenclature system and realizing that no label or perception can correctly pigeonhole everyone is one of the many things that students – including Eide and Gitchel – should learn while continuing their education at such a diverse place in Iowa as this university.

Joel Taylor

Freshman

Pre-journalism and mass communication and political science