The requirement that the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon end at 4 p.m. to move to the Bryce Jordan Center was due to
a promise Penn State President Graham Spanier made to the athletics department, Thon 2007 Overall Chairman Mike Funk said in an e-mail message.

Funk and dance marathon alumni met with administrators April 11 to discuss the reasons for the reduction in the length of Thon.

"From what I was told, when Spanier had the meeting with Athletics representatives, he promised them the 4 p.m. end in order to turn the facility back over sooner," Funk wrote.

The decision to end Thon 2007 at 4 p.m. on the last day of the event was announced March 27. In the past, it has ended at 7 p.m. Thon officials have said the start time is still flexible.

On March 30, Assistant Athletics Director Jeff Nelson said the athletics department did not request that Thon end at 4 p.m.

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

Funk wrote that Nelson was not involved in the discussions be-tween Spanier and the athletics de-partment.

"The quotes that have been released in the Collegian recently are all from people not involved in those conversations," he wrote. Athletics Director Tim Curley, men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis, the assistant basketball coaches for both the men's and women's teams, and other representatives were involved in the conversations between Spanier and the athletics department, he wrote.

Curley did not respond to multiple phone calls or e-mail messages over the past week asking him to confirm or deny Nelson's statements.

When asked if Nelson's statements were correct, Vice President for University Relations Steve MacCarthy responded on Spanier's behalf in an e-mail message, "The facts on this issue have already been provided to you."

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon wrote in an e-mail message, "The facts we have to offer today are the same facts we offered earlier."

According to Penn State's March 27 press release, "The agreement with University officials included a commitment to shorten the window the facility is unavailable for other purposes."

On March 30, BJC Marketing Manager Bernie Punt said there will be no other events on Thon weekend next year.

"We have our event booked Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Thon," he said. "They're going to be taking just about every square foot of our building."

Funk said in his e-mail message, "[Spanier] also stated that 'both himself and athletics know that they will realistically not have access to the main gym Sunday evening.' "

Funk also wrote, "We were informed by Dr. Spanier that he does think that THON doesn't need to be 48 hours in order for it to be THON."

Spanier was quoted expressing similar statements in a Feb. 21, 2000 article in The Daily Collegian.

"I have felt for years that Thon wouldn't be diminished one bit by having the event shortened by a few hours, and I've made this suggestion," Spanier wrote in an e-mail message.

Funk said he was not planning on making any changes to Thon statements.

"The reasoning for the shortening of hours is still due to the compromise that was made with Dr. Spanier and University Athletics," he wrote. "The last meeting with Dr. Spanier was a little frustrating, but we did get more answers, which helped."

Funk said Thon overalls are "moving forward" with plans to move to the BJC.

"No matter how long the event is, we will still do remarkable things for the kids," he said.

Stacy Forbes, Vice President of Dance Marathon Alumni Interest Group (DMAIG), said the group will support Thon overalls' decisions.

"DMAIG is fully standing behind the students in whatever their decisions are going to be regarding this," she said.