They all dress alike. You know, they all shop at the GAP. Man, you can pick them out in a crowd. Dance marathon jackets and bows in their hair. You know who I'm talking about, "frat boys and sorority chics."

I could never do what they did -- sell their individuality for friends. They all conform into their little cliques and they look down on the rest of us "independents." Pompous and snobby. Yep, I guess that sums them all up. Thank God I never rushed a fraternity.

Actually, I did. All of us did. And if you haven't yet, you soon will.

Two and a half years ago I arrived at Penn State alone and without any friends already in the Happy Valley. A friend told me of a great co-ed fraternity I should join. It had a great reputation and the people were movers and shakers. Joining the frat could open up career opportunities, but at the very least, it would introduce me to a bunch of possible friends.

The name of the frat is Typa Typa Typa. You might have heard of us by our other name, The Daily Collegian.

The first step was to take the entrance exam. Some were rejected, but I was lucky -- I got my bid. So I joined as a news pledge, and I started my office duties down at the house. We had pledge meetings, and although on paper I was a brother, I knew in fact I wasn't. My pledging took almost an entire semester.

As I spent time here at the house, I made friends and moved up the TYPA ladder. I've gone to TYPA formals, and quite a few of our brothers wear our letters --you can see many of our sweatshirts around campus.

There is no typical TYPA brother, but we are always stereotyped as wacky liberals who have their heads in the clouds and suffer from a deficiency of the real world. It isn't true, but perception is oh so much more important than reality.

I guess some of the people here at the Collegian won't like this comparison I just made. "We don't haze or make people drink until the puke," they may counter. That's true, but not all fraternities and sororities do. But that doesn't matter, because everyone at Penn State knows you can label and stereotype Greeks. Here's just a few . . .

-- Greeks are sexually promiscuous. I bet some are. I bet you most aren't. That's true of any large group. Men and women and beer minus common sense equals sex. And all it takes is just a few bad apples for a group to get labled.

-- Greeks live in their own world. All they do is eat, sleep and drink "Greekicity." I'll buy that. But, who cares. If you get too many TYPAs together, a conversation about the Final Four can amazingly transform itself into the merit of a headline on Page Three of yesterday's paper.

-- Greeks just hang out with Greeks. I don't know if this is really true, but it may very well be. Again, who cares. TYPAs hang with TYPAs. We have our own parties, our own happy-hours group and many of us live together. That's not wrong or right, that's just how it is. But that doesn't mean we don't hang out with others.

-- Greeks just want to party. Hello! Who doesn't? If you have a large organization of people that like each other, big parties will follow. TYPAs do like to party, but no more than anyone else.

I could go on and on and on, but I really don't need to. My point has been made. Many of the stereotypes belonging to fraternities and the Greek system in general could be applied to many other organizations. I just used the Collegian because it's the organization I know the best, but my little theory could work in other "organizations" such as . . .

Thrashers. That's just another name for the people who spend countless hours skateboarding outside my window when I'm trying to study. They are often stereotyped as non-comformists.

But I noticed something -- a lot of them dress similarly. Chuck Taylor sneakers. Baggy clothes with lots of stripes and assorted colors. Long flowing hair. I don't think it is pure coincidence. These "non-conformists" have just joined their own little fraternity.

Deadheads. Tie-dyes and drugs at a Dead concert. Granted, not everyone takes drugs and wears self-dyed shirts, but come on, let's be realistic. A lot do. Hmmm. Again, I don't see this as just a weird coincidence. I would argue that everyone who wears tie-dyes and takes drugs at a Dead concert is joining a group of common thinkers that reaffirms their values and gives them some identity. Nothing is wrong with wanting that -- until you buy from a Narc.

Everyone sells out a bit to fit in. I've heard people bash Greeks for "buying" friends or that they aren't real since they sold out. That's a crock of apple butter.

Everyone sells out. Greeks do. TYPAs do. Thrashers do. So what if they pick and choose their friends. We all make choices to conform and fit in every day of our lives. I have yet to meet a true non-comformist on this campus. If you consider yourself a liberal or conservative, a feminist or male chauvinist, you have conformed yourself to a degree.

So the next time you witness the art of Greek-bashing (you won't have to look very hard), ask yourself this question: Are they really bashing Greeks, or are they bashing human nature?

If it's the latter, they're only bashing themselves.