"(Penn State) is a very significant player in collegiate licensing, and licensing reflects highly on a university," said Dan Sieminski, vice president of finance and business.

Since each school commits about 1 percent of its total licensing revenue to join the WRC, the University of Michigan paid substantially more than Penn State would have to when Michigan became affiliated with the WRC, Austermuhle said.

However, Penn State administrators said they are not willing to take a gamble on the uncertain future of the WRC, which is still in its organizational stages.

Penn State President Graham Spanier questioned whether the WRC would have a large enough staff and adequate funds to keep its operations functioning over an extended period of time.

"The system of monitoring compliance that they have proposed initially really does not seem to have the teeth it will need," Spanier said at a press conference last Friday.

The WRC is unclear when its first fiscal year will officially begin, but when the date is agreed upon, colleges and universities will be required to submit their dues, said Maria Roeper, WRC coordinator.

Roeper added the consortium has already begun to receive checks from current members, but has not cashed any of them yet.

Sieminski said if Penn State decides to join the WRC in the future, it would do so only after the stability of the consortium has been established.

"If we do (join the WRC), it will be with an idea that we do so with a genuine commitment for the long haul," Sieminski said. "We want to work with the WRC the way it is intended to be used."

Spanier said he does not support the seven other Big Ten universities who have already joined the WRC provisionally.

"That is absolutely the wrong decision," Spanier said. "I do not support my Big Ten colleagues who have done that."

Penn State already has a $100,000 informal five-year agreement to be a member of the Fair Labor Association, Austermuhle said. Austermuhle added Penn State pledged $350,000 to the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities in the same contract.

Austermuhle and several other STAR members want Penn State administrators to consider taking a year away from the FLA contract and reinvest the $20,000 into a year's membership in the WRC.

"There would be no additional expense, just a reallocation," said Julian Catchen (senior-computer science), Penn State Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union president. "If nothing gets accomplished in four years in the FLA, then it's worthless anyway."

However, the transfer of funds from one monitoring organization to the other is not a feasible plan for Penn State, Sieminski said.

"Any commitment we make to a monitoring group cannot be short-term," Sieminski said. "I wouldn't want to judge the WRC in a year — I don't think it would be fair to join with that attitude."

Sieminski said Penn State would not consider committing funding to be a member of both FLA and WRC due to the contrasts in their operating styles.

"It's hard to reconcile belonging to both," Sieminski said. "They have different philosophies — an adversarial type of relationship with licensees and manufacturers."

Penn State is fairly pleased with the current partnership the university maintains with the FLA, Sieminski said.

"I feel very comfortable with what we currently have in place," Sieminski said. "We're (the university) not 100 percent satisfied, and we're always looking for improvement."

The university still plans to form a committee to monitor the actions of the WRC during the next few months to evaluate whether the university should become affiliated with the consortium in the future, Sieminski said.

Some STAR members feel a few months is too long to wait for membership in the WRC and fear the consequences if the university delays becoming affiliated with the group.