Those involved in creating the living tree memorial for deceased Penn State students hope its dedication ceremony next Friday will unite the university community.

Undergraduate Student Government and Black Caucus members, as well as a student and administrator who were influential in the memorial's creation, met at a news conference yesterday to outline the messages they hope it will convey. The memorial will be dedicated to the students who have died this year and in prior years while attending Penn State.

"I think this event is important because it's combining students from different groups and administrators from different positions," Assata Richards (graduate-sociology) said. "This isn't the first thing to bring us together. There are many places where our interests meet."

Beenu Puri, former USG public relations director, said individuals, not student groups, motivated the tree memorial's creation.

"It wasn't so much student groups as regular students," she said.

The memorial will exist because of student efforts, Richards said.

"This was a student-driven initiative because students wanted to stop and say, 'Let's value human life,' " Richards said.

The memorial is intended to commemorate the lives, not the deaths, of the students.

"It's not just a typical memorial -- it's a living memorial," Justin Zartman, former USG president, said.

Puri said the memorial is a way for the students' memories to live on at the university.

"It's to say we remember you at Penn State and you're still with Penn State," she said.

The dedication ceremony will take place on the lawn of the HUB-Robeson Center after a multi-faith memorial service at 12:15 p.m. next Friday in Schwab Auditorium. Five families of recently deceased students are expected to attend the dedication, said Arthur Carter, assistant vice president of student affairs. All families of the 27 recently deceased students will also receive a red oak sapling.

Carter said the living memorial might expand in the future through an arboretum. He said he would like the ceremony to take place annually.

"I would hope the combined efforts would become a tradition here, much like homecoming," he said.

Zartman invited all members of the Penn State community to join in remembrance of the students.

"We hope that everyone feels welcome to come to this ceremony," he said. "It's not invitation only. It's open to the students and the community."