He grew up with the Boy Scouts. He was the kind of person you could always count on to help clean up a park or paint over graffiti.

Now Brian Alper is doing a different kind of service. He's started a group, Penn State Pro-Solution, that aims to resolve "unsolvable" issues by bringing opposing viewpoints face to face. He wants to take solution-making out of the politicians' hands and place it into the citizens'.

The group was born when he wrote a letter to The Daily Collegian last spring, declaring himself neither "pro-life" nor "pro-choice," but "pro-solution."

"I felt guilty about saying I didn't like politics but doing nothing about it, so I wrote the letter," said Alper (senior-premedicine). "Pro-Solution has nothing to do with my career except that I'm a citizen and that means it has everything."

Alper believed, looking at specifics, that those on opposing sides of the abortion issue could agree.

"Most people were fighting one way --lobbying for one interest --and no one was trying to solve anything," said Alper of the ongoing abortion debate. "Citizens should be deciding the solutions and the politicians putting them into action."

The theory behind Penn State Pro-Solution is that moral truth comes out of dialogue, said Robert Walker, professor of science, technology, and society and the group's adviser.

"People take time out of their regular schedules to reflect on situations we find ourselves in. They're doing what a citizen in a democracy should be doing," Walker said.

If citizens don't discuss tough issues face to face, the democracy isn't functioning, he added.

Enough students responded to Alper's plea for an end to the abortion war that Penn State Pro-Solution was able to become officially registered with the University.

Now Alper is doing an honors thesis that critiques the process of solution-making and explains how he started the group.

Last spring, the group focused on the abortion issue, breaking it into discussions of parental consent, birth defects and information and counseling among others.

"I had people that were strongly pro-life and pro-choice that agreed on specific solutions once the issue was broken down," said Alper.

Using his previous experience as a participant in the National Issues Forum, Alper acted as a moderator, and by the end of Spring Semester, Penn State Pro-Solution had compiled a resolution to the abortion issue. They had found a common ground to stand upon.

Although Alper recognizes for various reasons that the solution may not be functional, he said he achieved his goal for the semester. He and the group showed that the process of resolving specific facets of a larger controversial issue through discussion can work.

"Brian is the main character in this play. He made it happen," said Walker.

Using the same steps, this semester the group will focus on poverty in Centre County.

"We decided to look at poverty this semester because it is a part of every other issue facing America, but we needed to localize it in order to get anywhere," Alper said.

The group has recruited experts from local community action centers to provide information and statistics regarding poverty in Centre County. Each Wednesday night meeting involves discussions between experts, a moderator and interested participants.

"These discussions yield decisions which are put together in solution form. By the end of this semester, we hope to have a solution to give to the county commissioner," Alper said.

"The solution is always in the process of being looked at. It's alive, dynamic, and always in the present," Walker said.

To further combat poverty in Centre County, Pro-Solution plans to hold a collective food drive during the month of November.