An apartment management company recently involved in a number of lawsuits with its renters will not be participating in this year's Housing Fair, where it met with protest last year.

The Apartment Store will not be attending the annual fair, which will be held this Friday and Saturday in the HUB, said Lynette Mason, president of the Organization for Town Independent Students. Mason said at last night's OTIS meeting that she would not speculate on why The Apartment Store decided not to participate in the fair, which aquaints students with some of their housing options.

Bruce Heim, president of Keystone Real Estate Group, 444 E. College Ave., the company that manages The Apartment Store, was unavailable for comment last night.

Last year's fair was the scene of picketing by Patrick Inorio, a disgruntled tenant of an Apartment Store building.

Forest Wortham, OTIS adviser, said at the meeting that he anticipates that the fair may again be a forum for student renters' complaints.

"Expect the worst and hope for the best," Wortham said about this year's fair.

The Apartment Store has also met with some controversy this year.

Linda Boyer (senior-speech communications) won a suit against the company last week involving her security deposit. Jerome Williams, an associate professor of marketing, filed suit against the company over his son's security deposit. His hearing is scheduled for Feb. 2.

Tina Slaughter (senior-general science), an unhappy former tenant of The Apartment Store, has been trying to form a group to pressure landlords to resolve tenants' problems but will not protest at the fair because the response has been poor.

Wortham said that people have the right to protest and OTIS is considering setting up a table for students to voice their concerns against landlords. The table would be in an area completely separate from the Housing Fair.

However, OTIS members have reservations about setting up a table. Wortham said they are concerned about the image any form of protest against landlords would present to parents and students who attend the fair."This is reflecting on the total community," he said.

But Wortham said students should educate each other about housing issues. He is confident that all the management companies at this year's fair represent positive relationships with their tenants. "All the landlords represented at the Housing Fair are customer-oriented," he said.