CORRECTIONS APPENDED

Irregularities in an online lottery for Harvard College seniors to buy Red Sox tickets sparked confusion and allegations of unfairness Sunday night, that have prompted a re-administration of the lottery. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Seniors were told they would be able to enter a lottery for tickets to three Red Sox games taking place next week, but a delay in the e-mails with links to the lottery may have put many seniors at a disadvantage in entering the lottery, and some students alleged the error was compounded by some seniors receiving early access to the Web site to participate.

Margaret M. Wang ’09, a member of Senior Class Committee—which sponsored the lottery with the Harvard Alumni Association—said it was an “unfortunate situation that happened because of a technological glitch.” She said that none of the SCC members were at fault.

SCC webmaster Darren He ’09 said the delay was caused by Harvard Computer Society work on the server.

But former HCS President Josh A. Kroll ’09 said HCS had “offered to work with them for situations where they would need a high service load,” after the committee experienced similar difficulties last week when announcing their Class Speaker, “It was an unfortunate situation because the HCS could have provided the service that the SCC needed had they told us,” Kroll said. “It is clearly important that people believe in our abilities”.

A. Sophia Hilgard ’09, who was able to successfully purchase tickets, said it is not surprising that the e-mail did not go through immediately but added, “it was definitely leaked because they had been given to the SCC and I imagine that a couple of them gave it to their friends.”

“The whole process was such a sham, especially with the SCC leaking the link to their closest friends.” wrote John M. Mistovich ’09 in an e-mailed statement. “I’m glad they realized what happened Sunday night was wildly unfair and are redoing the process.”

In an e-mail to the senior class yesterday, Harvard Alumni Association senior class coordinator Alexandra Monti wrote that the Red Sox ticket sales had been voided and the situation would be rectified.

Seniors were promised new links in an e-mail to be released early this morning.

She added that the HAA would try to offer an additional senior class event as compensation. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Alexandra Monti was not available for comment yesterday.

CORRECTIONS

The headline and text of the April 8 news article "Red Sox Ticket Lottery Goes Awry" incorrectly stated that the ticket sales were performed by lottery. In fact, seniors were e-mailed three links from which they could purchase the tickets.

The article also incorrectly quoted Alexandra Monti as saying the HAA would try to offer an additional an additional senior class event as compensation. In fact, the event Monti referenced was the Red Sox ticket sale.