This year, new, and possibly improved, options are abound for those looking to celebrate the student-created State Patty's Day, which originated to fulfill festivities for St. Patrick's Day when it fell during a break on the academic calendar last year.

Student advocacy group Safeguard Old State (SOS) announced Sunday night in a press release that it will hold State Patty's Day festivities on Saturday, March 1. The group hopes to develop a university-sanctioned coordinating committee to promote responsible drinking and to plan non-alcoholic activities with numerous university groups, including LateNight PennState, the release stated.

But as of press time yesterday, university officials had not given their support to SOS's initiative.

"SOS can't rewrite history with a press release," Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon wrote in an e-mail. "There is a long list of Penn State students who died in alcohol-related incidents during the past couple years. It is disappointing to see Safeguard Old State promote more drinking and claim they are doing so in the best interest of students."

SOS representatives said they were eager to work with the university. The group plans to submit a constitution to the Center for Student Engagement this week, and group members met yesterday with members of the Student Programming Association and LateNight Penn State.

SOS also launched a Web site Sunday night, www.statepattysday.org, and created a Facebook.com group for the event.

But another Facebook group insists that the date to celebrate is Thursday, March 6.

The event, held on March 2 last year, was the product of a Facebook group formed because students were on spring break on March 17, traditionally St. Patrick's Day. Students in the group attempted to convince local bars to open earlier and were met with fierce opposition from university and State College officials last year.

Joe Veltre, SOS student relations director, who created last year's Facebook group, said he approached SOS members about hosting State Patty's Day events at the beginning of the fall semester.

"It's always a favorite day for Penn State, whether or not you drink," he said. "It's one of those days when you get to school and celebrate something."

The response from student organizations has been positive, SOS executive director Gavin Keirans said.

Members stressed that the initiative was not focused on alcohol consumption but rather on building community.

"Let's face reality: Penn State has a drinking culture, and there's no shame in having a drinking culture until it becomes the only culture," said Tom Shakely, SOS director of advocacy initiatives.

The group is meeting with University Health Services today to discuss promoting safe drinking practices.

"We have to prove not just to ourselves, but to the entire community, really, that this isn't a holiday for drinking; it's a holiday about community," Shakely said.

SOS's initiative faces more opposition from the March 6 State Patty's Day group on Facebook, which had more than 4,500 members, compared to SOS's Facebook group count of about 2,670 as of press time yesterday.

"It needs to stay a student-run celebration. [Holding university-sanctioned events] would almost cheapen it," said Graham Pugh (junior-letters, arts and sciences), the Facebook group's creator. "It strikes me as being kind of a lame attempt at further controlling the student body."

Other local reactions have been mixed.

Felicia Warner, a bartender at Tony's Big Easy Bar and Bistro, 129 S. Pugh St., said the bar is changing its opening time for the day.

"It's not set exactly yet," Warner added.

Mike Fullington, general manager of the Phyrst, 111 1/2 E. Beaver Ave., said he doesn't know what the bar will do for State Patty's Day.

Last year, the Phyrst opened its doors at 10:30 a.m. to a line of eagerly awaiting students.

State College Police Department Lt. Dana Leonard said that, like last year, police will "gear up for both holidays" this year. Police received 141 reports of disturbance and seven DUIs during State Patty's Day weekend.

State College Mayor Bill Welch said he does not support the initiative.

"It's a bad idea to drink your brains out on the real St. Patty's Day. But we do not need more opportunities and excuses to drink," he said.

-- Collegian Staff Writer Sara Linkosky contributed to this report.