Planning on going to a fraternity party in Iowa City? Better bring a case — of pop, that is.

As of Aug. 1, all fraternities on the University of Iowa campus are prohibiting the consumption of alcohol at house parties or in public places inside the houses. Of-age fraternity members are still allowed to drink in their rooms.

The voluntary decision was made by Iowa’s Inter-Fraternity Council last year, primarily in response to alcohol-related accidents and deaths, including the 1995 death of Lambda Chi member Matthew Garofalo.

All of the sororities and several of the Iowa State fraternities, including FarmHouse, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Sigma Phi, are already dry.

But oddly enough, the coordinator for greek affairs at ISU, Brian Tenclinger, doesn’t think a move to all-dry fraternities would be such a good idea.

“I am not in favor of our greek community going substance-free,” he said. “I don’t know about an entire community going dry at one time.”

This remark, coming from someone constantly dealing with the goings-on of the greek system, doesn’t make any sense. Tenclinger should realize the push to all-dry fraternities as a positive step, both in terms of reducing the possibility of alcohol-related deaths and of improving the image of fraternities.

Fraternity members always complain about the negative portrayal of “frat boys” — the beer-swilling, drunk-by-noon image that is common in the media and among non-greek students.

This is a perfect chance to change that image.

There is, of course, the possibility that dry houses may not attract as many members at first.

But at Iowa, the move was well-received by members of the greek system. According to Mary Ellen Gillespie, assistant director of student life at Iowa, numbers in both fraternities and sororities are up this year, even though students knew in advance that the houses would be dry.

Tenclinger cited the lack of alumni support as a problem for ISU fraternities making the move to eliminate alcohol.

But alumni must realize the problems with alcohol abuse at universities around the country. They should be even more supportive of their fraternities than ever.

ISU fraternity members have been shown up by their brothers at Iowa so far. It’s time to follow suit and, in the words of Nick Mauro, Inter-Fraternity Council president at Iowa, “change attitudes about drinking and about Greek life.”