Scalia Lottery Hits Tech Glitch

The Institute of Politics (IOP) accidentally told about 300 Harvard affiliates in an e-mail that they could attend Antonin Scalia’s speech at Harvard next Tuesday, but the students had only won tickets to watch the Supreme Court Justice on closed-circuit television.

After receiving a congratulatory e-mail telling them they “won a ticket” to the speech, the lottery entrants found another message in their inboxes around 20 minutes later clarifying that their tickets would allow them to watch the speech in overflow seating.

Of the 2,016 students, faculty and community members who entered a lottery for tickets earlier this week, 850 snagged seats inside the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

According to Forum Director Bill White, Scalia’s arrival generated so much interest that the IOP decided to formally distribute overflow tickets for the first time.

The Justice—known for toeing a staunchly conservative line—will discuss the separation of powers during his Tuesday address. Scalia was closely affiliated with Harvard early in his career, graduating from the Law School in 1960 and spending the following year as a Sheldon Fellow.

“More people signed up for the Scalia lottery in two days than any of the eight candidates we hosted for the ‘Hardball’ series,” White said, referring to the visits from the Democratic presidential candidates last year.

IOP Webmaster Gregory G. Westin ’04 said a coding glitch caused the same e-mail to go out to those who won seats in the Forum and those who can watch on television.

“The first e-mail was sent out to those who had received any type of tickets, irrespective if it was overflow or regular,” Westin said.

Westin said he quickly realized the problem and spent around 20 minutes fixing the computer program in order to send a follow-up message to those who would be watching the speech on television.

He said he had not heard any complaints from students about the e-mail glitch.

“Most of these people didn’t read their e-mail until they had gotten both, so hopefully most of them didn’t have 10 minutes of excitement before getting the second e-mail,” he said.

Christopher N. Acton-Maher ’07, who received the initial e-mail only to discover that his ticket was for overflow seating, said he felt a “little disappointed.”

Acton-Maher, who is also a Crimson editor, said he and his friends who had received overflow tickets probably wouldn’t bother going.

“I’m planning on seeing if anyone around me that I’m living with wants to take advantage of it,” he said.

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.