Help Out the Innocents of 1 Pearl Place

By now, you’ve probably heard about the disciplinary aftermath of Tour de Franzia, wherein the university fines a group of five seniors $2000 for acts that they did not actually commit. They have until commencement to procure the money, and if they don’t pay up, the school plans on withholding their diplomas. As in, they wouldn’t technically graduate. Because they made a Facebook group.

Well, good news: you can help out the ladies of 1 Pearl Place. They started an online donation page and are accepting contributions to pay the fine. Their even-tempered plea:

We set up this page to help raise money to pay off the $2000 fine that the university dealt us. We are extremely sorry to anyone who was hurt or had property damaged on that night. Everyone is entitled to their opinions on our level of responsibility. For those who enjoyed themselves or want to help out, this allows you to contribute a few dollars so that we can pay off the fine and graduate! We are grateful for any support.

They would really appreciate any financial help you can throw their way–these guys are about to enter the real world and are not exactly primed to spare $400 each. A few dollars from every person who had fun on the Tour would go a long way in covering the charges. Give what you can.

More reason to help them out: they’re being super amiable about the situation. One of the five commented on Braille’s post:

we expect to pay some of the fine ourselves, obviously, so the choice to show total funds raised was more to be transparent than because we expect it all to come from the community. we also don’t mean to pressure people to donate; we want to keep this positive, as something that people who had fun can contribute to if they so wish. if you know of people who might want to throw in a few bucks, thanks so much for forwarding this/spreading the word.

In my humble opinion, this whole debacle reeks of the university pinpointing convenient scapegoats that will enable administration to flex some authoritarian muscle in hopes of discouraging future Tour de Franzias at Wesleyan. While I highly doubt the Tour will stop, I’m sure they’ve succeeded in driving its organization further underground. Next year, expect a private Facebook group created with a false account, or maybe a BCC’d email from WesBoxedWine@hotmail.com, or supersecret paper handouts written in invisible ink. Dear university: please don’t deny me a diploma for encouraging the class of 2011 to receive and flaunt the Tour de Franzia torch.

Link: Tour de Franzia Fine on ChipIn