Organizers of this year's Homecoming parade have made a few changes they hope will cut down on the parade's length and place more emphasis on Penn State groups.

Homecoming Overall Chair Tara Burnham said past parades have lasted for more than four hours, so this year, the committee felt changes were necessary.

According to an e-mail message from Parade Overall Kristin Smead, there will be a limit of only 20 walkers per organization, regardless of the group's size. Organizations in the parade will also be allowed only one vehicle with a flatbed. All groups must agree to these new regulations before registering for Homecoming this year.

Eric Kelley, Homecoming overall for Theta Delta Chi fraternity, 305 E. Prospect Ave., said the new rules do not affect his fraternity directly, but they do hurt the group with which Theta Delta Chi has been paired.

Orchesis Dance Company, which has about 30 members, has walked with Theta Delta Chi for the past few years and always works on a dance routine to perform while following the fraternity's float, Kelley said.

Kelley said the new regulations have presented the two groups with a logistical problem because they do not know how to allow all the dancers to participate in the parade. Kelley said he has been talking with the group to decide between cutting 10 dancers, switching the dancers mid-parade or putting some dancers on the float.

"Right now, we really don't have a solution," Kelley said.

Nicole Albanese, Homecoming chair for the Penn State Marketing Association, said this year, it would be hard to split up 20 people between the association and their partners in the parade.

Albanese said there are a lot of people who work on the float and should be in the parade but will not get the chance to be this year.

"We are a little upset about it, but there is not much we can do," Albanese said.

However, Interfraternity Council (IFC) President Brian Bertges said the Homecoming committee's decision to reduce the number of flatbeds and parade participants is necessary.

"It affects some organizations more than others," Bertges said.

The cap on the number of people and floats in the parade was intended to make the parade shorter and safer for students, alumni and community members, Homecoming Adviser Jared Brown said.

"The parade in past years has gotten away from its mission," Brown said.

Smead's e-mail message also said businesses would be excluded from the parade this year. Instead, there will be only a float thanking businesses that donated $1,000 or more for their support in Homecoming 2005. The only bands that will be included in the 2005 parade will be Penn State bands, alumni bands and the State College High School marching band.

Groups can register as student organizations, community organizations, alumni organizations or executive boards, but none are exempt from the 20-walker rule. Bands and public officials can participate by invitation only, Smead said.

Alumni and greek chapters are considered separate from their governing bodies, such as IFC and the Alumni Association, she said. Executive boards include student government groups, such as the Undergraduate Student Government, and are limited the same way other organizations are, Smead said.

Brown said the decision to implement the changes came in the spring when the committee met with Vice President for Student Affairs Vicky Triponey and Alumni Association Executive Director Roger Williams.

The Alumni Association and the university expressed concern about the parade's length and the safety of participants and spectators.

"We have to constantly look at it through fresh eyes," Williams said.

Williams said there was a major concern from a "chorus of people" on the time it took for the parade to move across town last year. The committee would like to make it tighter, quicker and less commercialized, he said.

Triponey did not return numerous phone calls from The Daily Collegian.

The parade will be shortened from about three-and-a-half hours to two hours, with a new route that goes west of Beaver Stadium, instead of on the stadium's east side. The new route will cut the parade by a half a block, Smead said.

There will be the same number of student organizations and an increased number of alumni groups participating this year, Smead said in her e-mail message. She added that last year, there were 189 parade participants, compared to 164 this year. The number of groups participating in the parade has not yet been finalized.

"Not everyone has finished registration," Smead said. "It may be less."