Dance Marathon fund in danger

For the past six years, IU Dance Marathon has had the privilege of soliciting a $4 donation from students during registration, billable to the Bursar. This privilege is now in jeopardy, though, because of an insufficient number of students willing to donate to the cause.\n"There is a certain level you have to reach each semester, you have to have at least 10 percent of the entire student body donate or else we lose the privilege" Dance Marathon President Ryan Bulan said. "In order to get it back, we would have to get a petition with a lot of students signing it," \nUpon registration, students are offered many options in which they can purchase items such as season football tickets, bus passes or tickets to the Little 500. Among these options is a $4 donation to Dance Marathon.\n"We need to demonstrate that we are as well known on campus as other organizations," Internal Vice President Ashley Crouse said. "We have never had over 1,000 people do it and we need at least 4,000 (this year)."\nThe implementation of the new registration system OneStart has many members of the Dance Marathon community concerned.\n"We are concerned with the new OneStart system, it is really confusing to know if you actually donated because you have to click the 'submit' button before you hit 'continue' in order to verify your donation," Crouse said. "We are kind of concerned that this will confuse a lot of students and possible donors."\nDance Marathon is a 36-hour marathon in which participants are able to dance, play basketball, football, four square and eat, as long as they do not sit or sleep for the duration of the 36-hour event.\n"Basically, the reason they are not allowed to sleep is because a lot of Riley children come to the event and we want to show them that this event is for them," Bulan said.\nThe marathon was started in 1991 in memory of Ryan White, a high school senior from Kokomo bound for IU who died after contracting AID's from a blood transfusion. \nThe money raised from the marathon goes to support the infectious disease wing of the Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. During the past 13 years, the marathon has raised about $13 million.\nThis year, it will take place Nov. 5 through 7 and will include performances by 12 to 15 live bands.\n-- Contact staff writer Amber Nicholas at amrnicho@indiana.edu.