The Students for Real Democracy lost all respect. SRD claims most rapes occur at fraternities and yell about not dealing with the "cause of the problem."

SRD's solution is to eliminate fraternities, citing them as sexist institutions contributing to the problems of sexual harassment and rape. This self-righteous organization, which relies on fantasy, would rather take shots at a system doing more than their eyes could see. If SRD really is for democracy, then Sigma Nu fraternity is sure you won't mind the facts.

How can you ever expect to get respect spreading lies? Campus crime statistics show a higher incidence of reported rapes on-campus than in fraternities. But SRD would rather claim "most" rapes occur at the locale of 12 percent of the population. Is your organization calling our brothers rapists?

Your thinking is illogical. If you think fraternity men are "prone" to commit such a crime, would moving us to a dorm or apartment change anything? It would probably get worse. The average fraternity member has probably done more to educate and solve sexual harassment problems than you with your accusations.

Not only does the Interfraternity Council have its own mandatory sexual harassment program, many chapters have acclaimed programs for both pledges and brothers. Fraternity men are active in programs such as the Penn State Escort Service. It was two of our Sigma Nu brothers that started Men Stopping Rape.

Ask the children suffering from cancer what the Four Diamonds fund has done to their lives. Ask the American Red Cross who supplements the blood supply. You are aware some fraternities have about a 95 percent participation rate.

The efforts of fraternity members and alumni probably positively affect somebody you know everyday. Also, your multi-media classroom was financed in part by fraternity men's donations. Ritenour Health Center's expansion was funded in part by donations of fraternity men. But you knew all of this, so this should be a review.

The SRD are going about getting publicity in the wrong manner. We understand the difficulty of being heard at a university this size. But pulling stunts, shooting of your mouths and not researching you facts will only label your organization in a negative way.

You back up none of your words, so respect will elude you. Contrary SRD's belief, "real" democracy is not built on misnomers. It is built on truth.