Debates are increasing on college campuses concerning the future of drinking in fraternities.

Greek houses are facing a crossroads as university officials across the nation crack down on drinking.

Drinking in fraternities has come under a microscope after the recent deaths of Lambda Chi Alpha member Matthew Garofalo at the University of Iowa and a pledge of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at Louisiana State University.

Indeed, some greek houses are planning to ban alcohol by the year 2000. Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Theta and Phi Gamma Delta have made pledges to prohibit alcohol at all of their houses by July 1, 2000.

Studies have shown that those who attend fraternity parties and drink in fraternity houses are overwhelmingly underage and are labeled as binge drinkers.

However, would it surprise you that a binge drinker is classified as someone who has consumed the equivalent of four or more beers in a row?

How many of us fall under that statistic?

Quite a few of us, probably. Four beers isn’t a lot to drink, and to say that fraternities are filled with those people is quite misleading.

While drinking is a problem in the greek system, the benefits of fraternities outweigh those negative stereotypes.

Greeks are involved in numerous campus activities and add positively to campus life nationwide. To single out fraternity members for a societal problem is unfair.

Heavy drinking is a problem in today’s colleges and universities. Students living in residence halls and off campus are just as responsible for problems as the greek system is.

If we are going to change things for the better, we need to treat the problem of heavy drinking at all levels, and not single out particular groups.