It's official-the Roots and the Black Eyed Peas are coming to Harvard. The Undergraduate Council-affiliated Concert Commission has "scraped together" the $50,000 required for the concert at Sanders Theatre on Feb. 12, and tickets are currently on sale at the Harvard Box Office.

As part of the commission's original budget, an "anonymous private donor" pledged to make up for any shortfalls in the commission's funds-up to $10,000 -until a last-minute influx of donations from recording industry executives, totaling $15,000, made the move unnecessary.

Informed sources say the anonymous donor was commission co-founder Natalie Hershlag '03.

"The anonymous donor just wanted to make sure that the program went on," says Gila D. Jones '02. "[She] thought that this would be a really great thing for Harvard. It was a last resort."

Members of the commission say that even though current council Vice-President Sujean S. Lee '03 and former President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 are listed as a co-founders of the commission, the group's pivotal members are Hershlag and Sarah E. Lewis '01.

Current council President Paul A. Gusmorino '02 and Vice-President Sujean S. Lee '03 campaigned on a ticket which advertised they would bring the Roots to campus.

Lewis says she and Hershlag first thought of starting a commission to bring bands to Harvard after the two of them attended a concert featuring the Roots.

"I was friends with members of the Roots, and my friend knew people in the Black Eyed Peas, so we thought we could get them to come at a reduced price," Lewis says.