This campus is full of stereotypical people – those who stereotype others and those who are stereotyped. And the majority of people on this campus fall into both groups. When I graduated from high school, I thought I had forever left behind the days of ignorant cliques, rampant rumor mills and dim-witted assumptions, but as it turns out, all of that exists in college, just on a larger scale.

So many individuals on this campus are so quick to judge others without even making the smallest attempt to get to know that person or understand where they are coming from.

I see it everyday. I see it in class, at work, at the bars, even in my own house. People constantly make assumptions and judgments about others based on appearance, race, sexual orientation and beliefs. They stereotype others simply by their major, an organization they’re involved in or an extracurricular activity they’re a part of.

There’s a large majority of people on this campus that don’t care who you are, but who you associate yourself with. I’m not going to beat around the bush here. The biggest stereotyping that takes place on this campus is related to whether someone is involved in a Greek organization, and if so, which one.

Disagree with me if you want, but that is something nearly everyone on this campus knows and thinks – I’ll just be the one to say it. And I see it every single day.

I work in a predominantly non-Greek environment. Nearly everyone on my news staff is not Greek. I have a number of friends that aren’t Greek. And I know many people in my classes that aren’t Greek. These individuals, for the most part, are all good people, but I hear the same “frat boy,” “sorority girl” stereotypes come out of their mouths all the time.

They’ll make comments about individuals they don’t even know based simply on one attribute. How fair is that? How can you ever expand and get to know other unique individuals if you have made your final judgment about them without even really getting to know that person?

And don’t think this is a one-way street. Things are just as bad on the other side of the yellow dotted line. I have a number of friends in sororities and fraternities that do the same thing. If they’re not judging someone for not being in a house, then they’re judging each other for what house they’re in.

It’s sad we all interact in a community where many individuals will judge you just by the letters you wear on your shirt – or the letters you don’t wear, for that matter.

And while stereotypes surrounding whether and how a person is involved in the Greek community is the most common, the ignorant assumptions don’t stop there.

I’ve seen some negatively judge others for something as trivial as living in a dorm instead of living off-campus. It’s ludicrous for someone to draw an impression of a another simply because of some minute detail that has little or no impact on who they are as a person.

I, myself, have been stereotyped on numerous occasion for working at this paper. I’ve heard the most outrageous assumptions and rumors about myself that were drawn simply by my position at this paper and the fact that my face appears in it on a regular basis.

The bottom line is those people don’t know me. They don’t know who I am or what I stand for, so they shouldn’t judge me, anymore than they should be judged for something as stupid as the color of their hair or what they wear to class. Prejudices and stereotypes are one of the few terrible regular occurences many Americans face on a regular basis. And they are certainly prevalent here at Eastern.

So next time you decide to come to a conclusion about another person, ask yourself if you really know that individual? Have you taken the time to see their point of view and try to understand why they feel the way they do?

For many of you out there, the reoccurring answers to those questions is going to be the same – No.