A group of Penn State alumni think more conservative views need to be expressed on campus and have created a non-profit foundation to do just that.

The Nittany Freedom Foundation, created by alumni leaders of Penn State Young Americans for Freedom, conducted its first board meeting Saturday in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of PS-YAF.

"It's great to have them come back and support what they were once a part of," said Justin Wade, PS-YAF chairman.

Chris Gillott, one of the founders of the NFF, graduated from Penn State in 2000.

Gillott said the foundation was created as a way for PS-YAF alumni to give back to the university through channels other than general alumni relations funds. He said some former PS-YAF members hesitate to give money to the university because they disagree with actions of Penn State's administration.

"Over the years, a lot of things encroach on student freedoms," Gillott said, citing things such as caps on the amount of money that the University Park Allocation Committee will allot to bring speakers to campus. "We're noticing an increasing leftist agenda at Penn State."

However, he said the purpose of the new foundation is not to prevent students from going through normal funding measures.

Gillott and his brother, a founding PS-YAF chairman, devised the idea for the group in 1999.

He said one of the goals for the group is to bring more of a balance of conservative opinion to an increasingly liberal campus by helping PS-YAF members attract more speakers and attend more conferences.

"Members of YAF do not solely promote freedom on campus," Gillott said, explaining that some members go on to work in organizations that follow the same principles of PS-YAF after graduation.

Pat Coyle is one of those people. A 1996 graduate of Penn State, he was first involved with PS-YAF in 1993 and was chairman of the group during his senior year.

"What I like doing is just spreading our ideas to college students," Coyle said.

Coyle now works for Young America's Foundation, which has brought speakers such as Oliver North, Charlton Heston and Robert Novak to Penn State.

"I don't see the university itself promoting conservative ideas at all for the most part," Coyle said, explaining why he thinks the Nittany Freedom Foundation is needed.

Young America's Foundation is a national educational organization that assists not only PS-YAF and other YAF groups, but also College Republicans and the Independent Women's Forum, an anti-feminist group.

Although Young America's Foundation is sometimes called the "parent organization" to PS-YAF, Wade said it was more of a close friendship.

"It's more like a brother-sister relationship than a father-son or mother-daughter relationship," he said.