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Error leads to mistake in awarding victor

By Christine Jeon     5/17/11 7:00pm

After awarding Hanzsen College the 2010-2011 Intramural Sports President's Cup, the IM department revoked this decision based on a faulty calculation of the results, giving the cup instead to the Graduate Student Association.

IM Sports Coordinator Chris Watkins and Assistant Director for Intramural and Club Sports Justin Stafford informed Hanszen's sports representatives of the news.



"[I felt] disbelief and shock, followed by anger," Sports Representative Aditya Kaddu said. "This had been a big moment for me as an avid Hanszen sports player and sports rep, and was an even bigger deal for our college. They robbed us of that."

Rice Recreation Center Associate Director Evan Stein said that after two graduate students learned that Hanszen had been awarded the cup, they were surprised and started an investigation as to how the results were tabulated.

"This conversation brought to light that a glitch had indeed occurred, and that the GSA was the deserving winner of the President's Cup," Stein said.

The IM department met to discuss the situation and presented the information publicly while apologizing to Hanzsen, Stein said.

"Intramural Sports and the Intramural Sports Coordinator met, in two separate meetings, with both Hanszen and GSA sport reps in an effort to accept accountability for our mistake in person," Stein said.

However, Hanszen sports reps did not think the IM department did enough to apologize and make up for the mishap.

"They did nothing to compensate for the mistake, except for offering us Recreation Center duffel bags," Sports Representative Michael Zakrajsek said. "This was disrespectful to us and not acceptable. We declined the bags."

Stein said the department regrets their error and feels it has been an educational experience.

"We have learned a great deal from this incident, and feel confident that a mistake of this magnitude will not be made again," Stein said.

However, Kaddu feels the solution to the problem would be to stop allowing GSA to participate in IM sports with the colleges.

"[GSA shouldn't compete]," Kaddu said. "I've been saying that for a long time. They outman us, out-experience us, and outsize us in most sports. By "us" I mean any of the individual colleges."



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