This past summer I spent some time in Germany with a good friend. We had worked all summer, so we treated ourselves to a last hurrah of sorts before our senior year by staying in hostels in Munich and Stuttgart. This wasn’t my first trip to Europe, but it was the first time I went without family, as well as my first experience with a hostel.

Telling people you’re traveling abroad is like saying you just bought a puppy or are looking to buy a car – whether you want it or not, you are going to receive lots of advice, most of which is ridiculous. People spoke of money belts and copies of passports as if the entirety of Europe was out to pickpocket everyone stepping off a plane from America.

I had heard this all before – again, international travel wasn’t new to me – but the one that really stood out was a piece of information that we, as citizens of this nation, all kind of know, if only because other Americans keep beating it into our heads: don’t broadcast your nationality, because the rest of the world hates America.

It was a thought I didn’t spend too much time on until one night in particular at the hostel bar. My friend and I were sharing liters of beer with an Italian, two Australians and a German when I had a thought that now seems rather obvious.

It’s easy to hate the abstract collective; it’s easy to say, “I hate the French,” or, “America is the devil’s land.” But when it comes down to the micro level, it’s a lot more difficult to share a beer with a genuinely nice person but still dislike them for being from a particular country.

The reason I bring all this up is this – a lot has been made in the last couple of days regarding stories printed in The Crimson White about a perceived racial barrier that still exists within the greek system. The legitimacy (or illegitimacy) of this claim aside, it is poisonous for us as a community to attack each greek individual as a racist.

Yes, a young black woman was dropped from recruitment. Yes, this has happened before. But alongside each of those young women were 70-plus other young women who were left just as confused as to what went wrong. There’s a lot of us not associated with the fraternity/sorority system that don’t know about the recruitment process, and to use racism as the first conclusion is both irresponsible and lazy.

I am not marginalizing the fact that our greek system is segregated and that everybody seems to be okay with that. It absolutely needs to change. There are ways, though, to go about desegregation that don’t involve calling everyone on New Row a racist while shoving minorities down their collective throat.

For instance, push rush week back into the semester, like it was before Dr. Witt took over as president. Give people an opportunity to meet others around campus before they get thrown into the weeklong small-talk session; that way women who didn’t know anyone on campus initially aren’t at an inherent disadvantage.

Along with that, encourage more African-Americans to go through rush. If there turns out to be institutionalized racism in the greek system, it will be a hell of a lot easier to prove if one or two hundred black men or women get dropped within a few days instead of just one. And if it turns out that there isn’t institutionalized racism, then we’ll have the beginning of a truly desegregated greek system.

Most importantly, though, we need to openly communicate with everyone around us. Many people like to claim The Crimson White has an anti-greek agenda, but it’s difficult to portray the greek individual’s perspective when after negative stories about the greek system, greek students are emailed and encouraged not to speak with Crimson White reporters.

However, as an individual, you don’t have to rely on an advisor or some other person in a position of power to speak on your behalf. If you feel the greek system was unfairly portrayed, write a letter to the editor or a guest column to explain why. Your voice will be heard.

Like many people, I read the articles last week and jumped to the natural and most extreme conclusion. But I suspect unlike most of those same people, I had the good fortune to hear several members of sororities explain their perspective. To those young women I am most grateful, because it was their words that took me back to that hostel half-a-world away.

John Davis is a senior majoring in telecommunication and film.