Marc Schutzbank, a University of Pittsburgh senior, remembers thinking two things as he walked through streets littered with broken glass and saw images of burned sofas near campus after the Steelers' Feb. 1 Super Bowl win.

The destruction was a big embarrassment, he recalled yesterday. And it did not reflect the way most Pitt students in Oakland behave.

Hoping to prove the latter point, Mr. Schutzbank, with an assist from the Internet, has embarked on an unusual form of neighborhood fence-mending. Using the social networking site Facebook, Mr. Schutzbank is trying to raise money among thousands of his classmates to compensate for the damage done that night by some unruly revelers.

Police estimated the crowd reached nearly 10,000 that night.

The Facebook group he created, "I Celebrated Peacefully", has been active for just under a week. It asks students to mail in as little as $1 to an address in the school's William Pitt Union, or to donate in person at the union's ticket window.

So far, about $200 has been collected, said Mr. Schutzbank, 22, from San Antonio, who's majoring in politics and philosophy as well as finance. He and his friends want to raise $17,000, an amount intended to approximate the number of Pitt undergraduates on the Oakland campus.

"This school is very important to us, and this city is very important to us. It deserves our respect," he said. "If we could get every student to donate even one dollar, I think that's what we're looking for."

Opinions vary on how likely that is to happen. Just the same, some campus employees yesterday seemed moved by the gesture and the stream of students stepping up to the window wanting to do their part.

Christine Pontiff, herself a Pitt alum who manages the ticket window and was upset by the destruction, threw in some money of her own.

"I think it's a great thing," said Kenyon Bonner, an associate dean of students and director of student life. "I hope he's successful."

Pitt spokesman Robert Hill said the university itself had no comment.

Mr. Bonner said Pitt employees are depositing the money until the students decide how to distribute it. There are plenty of logistical problems, including what to do if a damage victim already has filed an insurance claim, but Mr. Schutzbank said it's the idea that really counts.

It's not known what share of the damage-doers were Pitt students. So far, the school says about 20 students face disciplinary proceedings for various offenses and could receive sanctions of up to a year's suspension.

A statement posted on the Facebook site agreed that football passion was on display in Oakland that night. But the statement said it's also true that revelers "destroyed the windows of numerous buildings, a bus [shelter], and some incredibly intelligent kid wrote "riot" on the [campus] library marble.

"Despite the fact that we might not have been involved in the destruction, we were involved in watching ... and we did not intervene when things became destructive," it stated.

The site urged students to donate "to show the community and the administration that Pitt students are not all jerks."

Mr. Schutzbank said Pitt students are a positive presence in the community, raising money for cancer research, working with children and cleaning up litter. But the vandalism serves to harden views of some in Oakland that students mean trouble.

Darrin Marks, 36, manager of The Original Hot Dog Shop on Forbes Avenue, said the fund drive could help offset that.

"I think it's kind of cool that kids are trying to do that because some in the crowd destroyed a lot of other people's property," he said.

Rebecca Droke/Post-Gazette