I'd like to begin by clearly stating that the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon is a great program. Thousands of students working together for such an important goal is truly an inspirational experience. From my small involvement in Thon as a freshman, I definitely believe that every student should become involved before leaving Happy Valley.

However, the actual execution of Thon is a little puzzling to me. After watching the interaction between children and students on the floor, I realized the importance of the dancers to their respective families. My question is why the event needs to be structured so that students are deprived of sleep for 48 hours. While I understand the symbolic inspirational innuendo that is portrayed by the dancers as they sacrifice their weekend, I never understood why the same student had to be there the entire weekend. I picture hundreds of college students, in the middle of an important semester, taking a break from sleeping for a whole weekend. While Thon is great, we are all here first and foremost for our academic pursuits, and 48 hours without sleep will take a long time to recover from.

There are also students turned away from dancing every year because of a lack of space. Why can't teams of three or four dancers be created so that Rec Hall is filled to capacity the whole weekend, more students can actually dance, and no one is exhausted and out of action for the next week?