As students prepare their Halloween costumes for the weekend, greek leaders hope they will stay away from those that are in "poor taste or offensive."

Greek community leaders placed an ad in the Daily Collegian on Thursday, asking all Penn State students to "take a minute to think about what kind of response the costume may elicit from others, and make a responsible decision as to whether the costume is appropriate."

The letter was aimed at the entire Penn State community, not just greeks.

"This is not only a greek problem, but a matter of Penn State culture," Multicultural Greek Council President Gina Chang said.

A similar letter was sent to greek members on their listserv, Interfraternity Council (IFC) President Luke Pierce said, adding that leaders have asked this of greeks in the past.

"We tell them that no matter how they are dressed, they always carry their letters," Pierce (senior-economics) said. "And for something like Halloween, that expands well beyond the greek community. We wanted to address the whole community."

Similar ads will be published in the future, Chang (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said, adding that this is a part of a risk management program and greek pride initiative.

One line in the ad reads, "Incidents on other campuses have drawn attention to bias-related incidents."

But leaders say this was not meant to be a reference to any specific instances at Penn State.

"I could make a laundry list of incidents at other universities," Pierce said.

Some students felt the advertisement was a good step toward promoting safety for the weekend.

Rebecca Hubler (senior-nutritional sciences) said she felt it was a good idea to run the ad, especially after Penn State students dressed up as Virginia Tech massacre victims for Halloween in 2007.

Another student, Whitni Rouse (senior-broadcast journalism), said the ad was a good idea, but it didn't make her reconsider her Halloween costume -- a Playboy Bunny.

"It didn't make me rethink my costume, because I don't consider myself a wild person," Rouse said.

University spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said the leaders "set out to do a good thing" by placing the ad.

"I hope students will think about how their actions affect other people," Mountz said. "We are always concerned about students' safety and hope they act in safe, responsible ways and avoid dangerous drinking."

Alyssa Bender contributed to this report.