In case you haven’t heard, Dance Marathon is coming up in a little more than a week.

With a fundraising event going on every night this week, you really do have to live under the proverbial off-campus, iPod-infused rock of isolation if you are unaware of the most notable weekend of the academic year.

Campus unity and a sense of Northwestern pride and community is a perennial debate that nobody really wins – those who think we lack it propose forced solutions and those who think we have it point to events such as DM.

What I think is DM’s most valuable asset, as cliche as it is, is how much it brings people together. There’s always a dispute over DM in the sense that some people argue the students involved are too self-important – that dancing and being tired and in pain for 30 hours is nothing in comparison to living with AIDS, diabetes, autism or any other illness or disability. And they’re right; it’s not.

But that doesn’t mean DM is not a worthwhile cause or experience. If nothing else, it raises awareness and offers everybody involved the chance to participate in an event that shows them the real meaning of giving, understanding and acceptance.

Every year people faint, bleed, throw up or break down – or all of the above. My dancing partner broke her toe last year and didn’t let on until the very last block. Yes, it may be true that some of that puke may be from the excessive cheesiness that goes into inflating the DM spirit, but for the most part people can’t really hate on it – otherwise they don’t “luh da keedz,” as emcees Todd Johnson, a Medill sophomore, and Adam Welton, a Communication sophomore, put it last year. And nobody wants to be known as the kid hater – especially concerning a program like this year’s beneficiary, Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative, which aims to eradicate pediatric AIDS in Illinois through medical training and patient outreach programs.

DM strikes me as the one time of year when students humbly make sacrifices – not only for a greater cause but for their fellow dancers, committees and friends. Sure, groups such as Alternative Student Breaks and OASIS volunteer on a regular basis throughout the year – but when you get more than 1,000 people into a room all at once for a cause, the effect it has on each individual involved is breathtakingly tangible. And the required volunteer hours each dancer has to put in before the main event is a great extension of the DM attitude.

I mean, the only other weekend during which NU school spirit seems to swell is on Dillo Day every May. And students normally puke for a different reason that Saturday. Carpe DM, indeed.

Medill senior Kim Jeffries is the PLAY editor. She can be reached at [email protected].