The creation of a second alumni organization for the University fraternities was announced yesterday, prompting concern about its public relations and advising roles.

The new organization -- called the Lion Fraternity Alumni Association, Inc. -- is the second fraternity alumni organization partially created and headed within the last year by University Board of Trustee member Ben Novak.

The first organization has served as an advisory group. The new group is designed to actively involve alumni in current fraternity issues.

Peter Weiler, assistant vice president and executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association, said he was informed of the new group yesterday. No relationship exists between the two associations, he said.

LFAA, currently filing for tax exempt status as a non-profit organization, will consist of alumni from the University's 56 fraternities, said Novak, president of the new association. The association will be funded through alumni donations, which will be tax exempt if such status is gained, he said.

LFAA will function as a broad organization to help all fraternity alumni become involved with their fraternities, according to a prepared statement.

"The LFAA will be to fraternities what the Penn State Alumni Association is to Penn State," Novak said in a prepared statement.

Many alumni want to become involved with their fraternity and the LFAA can help them do that, he said. LFAA will also provide liability protection to alumni who become involved through the program, he said.

While the association has no present plans to provide legal counsel for fraternities, an alumni who is a lawyer may want to represent a fraternity and LFAA could serve as a mediator between the two, he said. Novak is an attorney with Novak, Stover and McCarty, 412 S. Allen St., who last spring represented Delta Theta Sigma fraternity, 101 N. Patterson St., during an investigation of a poling incident.

"LFAA is one way for alumni to be involved with their chapters," said Rick Funk, Interfraternity Council advisor.

Sororities were not included in the organization because they are housed on campus, and University policies cover liability consequences for these on-campus groups, Novak said.

LFAA was created to help alumni make positive contributions to their fraternities and meet the challenges of the changing world, Novak said. Specifically, the organization will try to "help fill the gap left when the University changed its relationship with fraternities" in 1986, he said.

In 1986, the University's alcohol policy changed, causing fraternities to disassociate with the University because they were located off-campus.

Funk said the relationship change between the University and fraternities in 1986 caused no changes in advising fraternities.

IFC President Tom Lynch agreed with Novak's call for more advising in the fraternity system. However, the reason for the need is not only associated with the changed relationship between the University and fraternities, Lynch said.

But an unstable pool of faculty advisers and increased litigation involving fraternities nation-wide have played roles in the current shortage, Lynch said.

Lynch said he had previously understood LFAA's role to be an informational network for alumni across the nation.

The first alumni organization, called the Alumni Interfraternity Council, holds the advising role for the fraternity system, he said. The AIFC is made up of fraternity advisers and faculty members. AIFC has functioned as an informational organization, holding programs on liability, insurance policies, alcohol abuse and pledging, Lynch said.

The executive boards of the AIFC and the LFAA are presently the same.

Chris Curley, IFC chair of community relations, said LFAA and AIFC seem to have the same focus on paper. However, he said Novak's and LFAA Vice President Douglas Collins' interpretation for the new organization seems to be directed more at public relations instead of actual programs to help the Greek community.

During his tenure, Curley said his focus as community relations chair has been to concentrate on alcohol abuse, and the dangers of pledge practices such as "treeing."

"Image is important, (but) safety comes first," said Curley, who helped develop the new organization.

With the same executive officers, the direction of the two alumni organizations may overplay public relations aspects and hamper the current program-focus of the AIFC, Curly said.

In addition, the doubled amount of work could affect each group's effectiveness, he said.

Lynch agreed, but noted the difficulty in finding dedicated men to lead the organizations. The AIFC officers have done a good job, he said.

Curley and Lynch both said they supported the efforts of alumni to become involved and will work to make both the LFAA and the AIFC a success.

Novak said LFAA is not affiliated with the Other-Half, Inc., an organization he helped create that began a literary magazine last summer.

A letter has gone out to all fraternity house presidents, advisers and house corporation officers explaining the LFAA, according to a prepared statement.

The executive board of the LFAA and AIFC are president, Novak,; vice- president, Collins; secretary, Kenneth Ruch ; and treasurer, David Lapinski.

Members of the board of directors include: Lynch, University professor Arthur Goldschmidt, William Von Leer, John Condit, David Livermore, Jay Sletson, Vinson San Angelo and Richard B. Divany.