Penn State Young Americans for Freedom (PS-YAF) will host black conservative speaker Reginald Jones for the second time since 2000.

Jones will present his lecture "Betrayal, Sold Out by the Evil Civil Rights Movement," at 8 tonight in 101 Thomas.

On his last trip to State College about four years ago, Black Caucus members silently protested his lecture because of a handbill that advertised the speech. The handbill said, "Hey bee-atch, see this spee-atch!" and it carried a sign that said "YAFrican History Month."

PS-YAF Chairman Toby Eberhart said there is a lot of room for controversy with a speaker like this. Similar protests have taken place at other schools. There are not too many black conservatives, he said.

"Last time, they used controversy to get people to come and that overshadowed his message. We do not want to do that," he said.

"Any controversy will not be anything we created."

Eberhart said the recent white-only scholarship created by the Roger Williams University College Republicans was presented at the end of a speech Jones gave last week.

"He was aware of that going on, and he did not think it was a bad thing," he said.

Jones is well known for speaking out against affirmative action policies. Eberhart said most students who heard him speak last time have left Penn State. The group hopes he still is well known enough to bring out many people.

"Whether people agree or disagree, we figured his messages are pertinent now, maybe more than before," he said.

"We thought it would drive the message home harder if somebody who is a possible byproduct of affirmative action come and speak against it."

He said the group has not yet seen any signs of protest.

"We are not anticpating any massive protest, but we will not be surprised if people decide to do that. There is nothing we can do about it," he said.

Jones' lectures are sponsored by the Young America's Foundation. Patrick Coyle, the foundation's agent, said the controversy surrounding Jones' last trip to Penn State was not primarily about his message but was caused more by the student group's promotion of the lecture, he said.

"He is a great speaker, and he usually gets favorable responses, I don't expect anything different at Penn State this time," he said.

The Young America's Foundation works to send conservative speakers to college campuses, Coyle said. The group has been sponosoring Jones for many years, he said.

"Our goal is not to preach to the choir; we want people to come out and listen to a different viewpoint," he said. "We found that this is the best way to expose students to conservative ideas; Jones does a great job."

For some students, this will not be the first time hearing Jones give a lecture.

Harry Max (sophomore-political science) said he saw Jones speak before at another college campus. Some of his views are not typical of a black man, he said.

"I like the way he conveys his messages, but I just never heard these kind of messages coming from a black man," he said.