An organization to help sustain Penn State tradition, including the Undergraduate Student Government (USG), was created Monday by Senate Vice President Andy Banducci.

Safeguarding Traditions of Penn State (STOP) was initiated to help secure student involvement in the university, Banducci said.

"There's a trend in less student control and more administration control," he said. "There shouldn't be any administrative intrusion."

Although the organization is designed to support all student leadership organizations, the recent controversy with the possible replacement of USG with the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) was a major contributor, Banducci said.

"The mission goes far beyond this simple dispute of UPUA," he said. "STOP was not established in response solely to that."

Banducci said he organized this group after discussing recent trends in the administration's involvement with students and alumni.

He noted the university's support of UPUA as well as past instances that have increased administrative involvement in student organization that have previously been completely run by students.

"The student affairs office has been most involved [in the trend]," Banducci said.

When the Students for Real Advocacy was established on Feb. 6, the group had already received $3,000 of anonymous donations through Director of Unions and Student Activities Stan Latta.

Students for Real Advocacy President Andrew Reeve said that ultimately students will decide what they want for student representation.

"We believe we have a strong case," he said.

Banducci said there is no estimate of how many students and alumni are in STOP, but he said he has received significant support.

USG President Galen Foulke, the founder of Students for Real Advocacy, said he was unaware of STOP but supported any means to provide students with information.

"I am concerned with getting information out about the vote and UPUA," Foulke said, referring to an upcoming student survey about the restructuring of USG.

"We're not going to focus on this 'us versus them,' " he added.

Last night, there was also a closed meeting of the Students for Real Advocacy, and USG senators who are not involved with that group were asked to leave.

"[University Park Allocations Committee] announced that it was a public information center," Banducci said. "I didn't realize it was going to be a secret meeting."

USG Vice President Luke Adams said the meeting was scheduled as a closed session, but University Park Allocations Committee members may have advertised differently.

"The whole process has been somewhat secret from the start," Banducci said. "I wasn't going to remain there after [Foulke] asked me to leave.

He added that although there are no scheduled STOP meetings, any future meetings of the group would be open to the public.

Banducci said that the primary mission of STOP is "investing students with real power over their destiny at Penn State."