Instructors sympathetic to 'Thon participants

Everyone involved in Dance Marathon gives up a large percentage of their weekend for the event. Not many will be able to concentrate on, say, studying for tests, or completing their homework.

So some instructors are willing to give extensions on tests to their 1997 Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon student participants.

One such instructor said when he originally scheduled his exam for Monday, he did not realize it was the day after dance marathon.

Someone casually asked Derrill Kerrick, professor of geoscience, if he would consider delaying the Geoscience 20 (Planet Earth) exam for those dancing in the marathon, he said. So he informally polled his class, asking those involved with dance marathon to raise their hands.

After viewing the large number of students who were involved, he said he decided to put off the test.

"I did it out of the kindness of my heart," he said. "It's just delaying it for one day."

He recognizes that dance marathon is a good cause, and not a big party, he said, but he would not have put off the exam under normal circumstances.

"I have no qualms about what I did," he said, adding that the human element is positive.

One downside to the delay is that it pushes the schedule back one class period, although that does not make that much of a difference, he said.

Rhonda Penn, overall morale committee chairwoman for dance marathon, said she had a paper extended because of the extremely busy weekend.

"A lot of teachers have been sensitive," Penn said, adding that her teacher was really helpful and understanding.

As soon as they found out their classes for the semester, the overall dance marathon committee chairs went to their professors and explained their busy predicament, she said.

"(The instructors) understand how much our committee puts into dance marathon, and they respect that," Penn said.

But Kerrick said he isn't understanding for every excuse. He insisted that he is irritated by students using excuses such as leaving early for semester break, and he is not very lenient about students scheduling their trips early.

"There are certainly things that I'm not very flexible about," he said.

As to whether he will visit dance marathon himself, Kerrick said he was not planning to attend, although he was invited.

"It is a bit of a zoo in there, isn't it?" he joked.