An individual in a society undoubtedly makes individual, conscious decisions every day. Nevertheless, these individual decisions cannot be separated from the society in which they exist.

In other words, individual actions are not solely the result of individual decisions devoid of the values, beliefs and traditions that penetrate the social life of the individual. This is not to suggest that individuals are subordinate to the domination of society, but rather to suggest that our actions as individuals are interrelated in the social system we experience.

Thus, the recently reported rape of a University woman, which was (allegedly) the act of one individual -- Al Romanelli, a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity -- cannot be dismissed simply as an individual act devoid of values, beliefs and traditions of the system to which he belongs.

In charging Romanelli for his (alleged) destructive and abusive decision to rape another human being of her sexual wholeness, we must also charge the system which fosters such destructive and abusive acts.

Mary Ellen O'Shaughnessey, associate dean of students at the University of Illinois -- which has a Greek system slightly larger than Penn State -- conducted a sexual assault survey for the year 1989. Her findings illuminate the social problems associated with fraternities. She states that 64 percent of students who committed rape in 1989 were members of fraternities.

Yet, only 25 percent of the total undergraduate population are members. Seventy percent of women and 80 percent of men were drinking at the time, according to O'Shaughnessey, and only two of 81 rapes were reported to the police.

From these statistics and the history of fraternities, can we assume that the reported rape (allegedly) committed by Romanelli was solely an individual act devoid of values, beliefs and traditions of the social system to which he is a member?

Or should we, as a community, begin to actively denounce fraternities for their social practices of alcohol abuse, exclusion, disrespect for the law and violence against women?