Dance Marathon is trying to change this year for the better.

Before, there have been stereotypes and confusion regarding the 32-hour event and who exactly is welcome to dance. That is why Assistant Director of Internal Affairs Holly Hemminger and others on the committee came up with a new campaign called, “It’s the New Year.”

“It came to us that there was a stereotype of who could be involved with Dance Marathon and why,” Hemminger said. “Originally people thought you had to be Greek and there wasn’t a lot of diversity. It was completely unintentional.”

That is why this year with the new campaign, Hemminger wants to stress that everyone is welcome.

“We value all students at the University and everyone is encouraged to come and be involved,” she said.

They are combating the stereotype several different ways.

“We made a music video with every organization,” she said. “We had cheerleaders, Black Student Union, Multicultural Organization and more in it.”

Also, every month for their general meeting, Dance Marathon encouraged different organizations to come and talk about what they do.

“We had four to five organizations in the back of the room with a booth and had some present in the front,” Hemminger said. “We did this to promote others. Collaboration was huge.”

The effort was showing to Hemminger, who reported that over 300 students have signed up to dance this year compared to under 200 from last year.

Junior Charlaine Tenorio has been involved with Dance Marathon for over three years and said she signed up to be a dancer her freshman year when she wasn’t involved with a Greek organization, even though she is a part of Gamma Phi Beta now.

She said she did feel there was a little pressure to be Greek when signing up.

“When I signed up my first year, I signed under individual,” she said. “I’m not sure how I feel about it, there are a lot of Greeks involved so that’s probably why some don’t feel welcome.”

Though, through the campaign, Tenorio has noticed more non-Greek students are getting involved.

“I’ve seen my friends on Facebook that aren’t Greek are doing Dance Marathon and are excited,” she said.

While at the event, Tenorio did notice the difference.

“There are a lot more dancers here this year,” she said. “They had ice breakers where we got to meet different teams and get to know one another.”

Sophomore Hannah Tempel is not involved with a Greek organization, but is involved with in the mini marathon steering committee for Dance Marathon.

When she was a freshman, she also thought that Dance Marathon was only for Greek organizations and hopes the campaign can “wipe the slate clean.”