Because of contradictory statements made by various university departments, the reason the 2007 Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon will end at 4 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. remains a mystery.

Thon overalls announced Sunday in a press release that the decision to end Thon three hours earlier was part of an agreement Penn State President Graham Spanier negotiated with the Big Ten Conference and athletics officials to ensure a blackout of any home men's and women's basketball games that weekend.

"The agreement with athletics officials included a commitment to shorten the window the facility is unavailable for other purposes," the Sunday press release stated.

Thon 2006 Overall Chairman Evan Jacobs said Sunday that the Big Ten Conference requested that Thon be shortened to accommodate a basketball game or other event.

However, Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said the primary reason for the scheduling change is "turn-around time" to prepare the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) for "other uses," not a basketball game.

BJC marketing manager Bernie Punt said no event will be held at the BJC Sunday night of Thon weekend and the main events that take place Monday mornings are basketball practices.

"We were just informed that Thon will end at 4 p.m.," Punt said. "I do not know the reasons why. We were not part of the negotiation."

An official from the athletics department said he also had no part in the decision to cut Thon short.

"Athletics' role as far as having Thon moved to the BJC was to secure the building, in terms of the dates," Assistant Athletic Director Jeff Nelson said. "We're not involved in terms of what times the event begins, ends or what the format is."

Nelson said coaches had not requested early morning practice time on the Monday following Thon weekend as part of the negotiation. He added that practice schedules are not made this far in advance.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said Punt and Nelson were not directly involved in the decision to cut Thon.

Jacobs said Thon overalls met with Spanier last fall to request that he meet with the Big Ten to secure a weekend for Thon.

Jacobs said Spanier met again with the overalls in December and offered the deal of moving to the BJC as long as Thon ended at 4 p.m.

Jacobs said that Spanier said "...that's the compromise I needed to get this to happen."

Megan Collins, Thon 2006 special assistant overall, said the requirement that Thon end early to be held in the BJC was "dictated by the agreement Dr. Spanier made on our behalf to secure the BJC."

Collins said Thon overalls did not know Thon would have to end early when the move to the BJC was originally proposed.

"When this move started, it was never intended to decrease the hours," she said.

She said the administration had "brought to our attention" the issue of students who skip classes the Monday after Thon, but she said that was not the reason for the decision to end Thon early.

Kendig said Thon overalls had the option of staying in Rec Hall and keeping the original 48-hour timeline.

Jacobs said he had notified administrators before the meetings with Spanier that if Thon were to remain in Rec Hall, the building's capacity limit would have to be enforced.

"If we wanted to stay in Rec Hall, we would have had to severely cut participation [and] the number of passes allowed on the floor," he said. "When I went to Dr. Spanier, it was pretty clear what my intentions were."

Kendig said in an e-mail message that the "more compact" Thon schedule would have multiple benefits.

"While understanding that tradition is important, so too are the benefits of a more compact schedule, including more travel flexibility for participants and less likelihood for health and safety concerns to arise," he said.

He said it was important to keep in mind the benefits of moving to the BJC and not focus on a "single nuance of the venue change."

Nelson referred questions about Thon's schedule to the Office of Student Affairs.

"Anything related to the format, anything of that nature, you would need to talk to someone in the Student Affairs office," he said.

Student Affairs officials said Vicky Triponey, vice president for student affairs, was busy in meetings yesterday. She did not return multiple phone calls or e-mails by press time.