Today marks the first day of "Alpha Week," four nights of cultural and educational events coordinated by members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Anthony Armstrong (senior-biobehavioral health) said the week of events is a tradition going back to the fraternity's founding in 1947.

Tonight the week begins with "Freshmen vs. Fresh Meat" at 7 p.m. in the Pollock Cultural Lounge, a program that Armstrong said will be about how to avoid contracting STDs.

New this year are events about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a program called "Where did our Black Leaders Go?"

Jonathan Walker (senior-economics) planned the Katrina event, titled "United We Stand, Divided We Are," and will be making an original presentation as part of the evening. The event will take place at 7 p.m. tomorrow in 201 Thomas.

"A lot of the stuff that I'm finding out, I'm not sure a lot of people know about things that are still going on," he said. "People are still not being properly helped."

Walker said the event will not be biased, however.

"It's for anybody who's curious about the disaster," Walker said. "I'm not going to bash the government."

"Where did our Black Leaders Go?" will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday in the East Halls Cultural Lounge.

"A lot of people have said 'We have no black leaders,'" Armstrong said. He said the event will challenge this perception.

Returning to Alpha Week is the popular "Pitfalls of PSU," which will include a series of skits to reveal the dos and don'ts of life at Penn State. The event will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Pollock Cultural Lounge.

Armstrong said everyone at Penn State is invited to attend all of the events.

"I'm hoping we have a very diverse crowd. It usually doesn't happen that way, but I'm hoping," he said.