What outraged me about the article was not that sorority members are raped at an astonishing rate; nor the evidence of some fraternities’ criminal conduct and sororities’ submission to it.

Evidently, college women who wish to be part of sororities, are pressured to put themselves in risky situations that often lead to sexual violence, aided by excessive alcohol or the “date rape drug.” A sorority, seeking to increase its membership, works hard to be popular with fraternities even if it means their members’ self-sacrifice.

But what struck me more than anything was the fact that anyone would go against his or her better judgment and well-being just to be a part of a group!

Providing Amy (a made-up name) joins a sorority. Its leader urges the girls to go to a party with fraternity X. Amy has already attended a mixer with fraternity X, where she was pressured to drink to excess and where her girlfriend was slipped a “roofie” and raped. She knows the score. Will she have the courage to refuse to go, even if it costs her her friendships?

Many people are too afraid to hold their own, to be themselves, to fight for what they believe is right. They fail to realize that they have a right to be individuals, not a speck in a cloud of group dust. They compromise themselves just to be a part of something. In this case, that “something” clearly doesn’t have their best interests in mind!

Naturally, if you speak your mind, not everybody will like you. You may not be popular. You may even find yourself alone. But you will be yourself, uncompromised. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be me alone than pretend to be someone I am not, in a group. And before being a part of a group, a team or even a family, I am myself.