Coffey Due Some Credit for Tickets

Sometimes life is unfair--even for members of the Undergraduate Council. Last week, we criticized Campus Life Committee co-chair Rudd W. Coffey '97 for taking credit for something he did not do. Well, after a Harvard administrator recanted, it turns out that Coffey deserves partial credit.

Coffey originally claimed a "real big victory for the U.C." when a second ticket deadline for the Harvard-Yale game was offered. Yet as Harvard officials reminded The Crimson, the second ticket offering is a long-standing tradition. "We just do it like we do it every year The Game is held at Harvard," explained Edward J. Carey, ticket manager for the athletic department.

Yet as Carey later admitted, his statements to The Crimson were both true and false. It is true that Harvard traditionally offers tickets for a second time the week before The Game. With regard to the tickets themselves, Coffey's phone calls to administrators were redundant.

Carey explained that it was false for him to say that the tickets were offered just like every year, since traditionally the second round of tickets are offered at face value. This year, though, students who purchased tickets the week before The Game were able to receive the half-price discount normally accorded only to those students who order tickets earlier.

Last week, we reasoned thus: "unless the athletic ticket office is launching some diabolical conspiracy against Coffey, we can only conclude that Coffey attempted to take credit for something that he did not do." Well, it does not appear to be a conspiracy (certainly not diabolical). Rather, as Carey explained, the Crimson article was "above the board" and his mischaracterization of the issue a "an honest mistake."

Carey's setting the record straight comes as little consolation for Coffey. While his work might not have amounted to a "real big victory," his efforts certainly made some students happy. Half-price tickets, after all, represent an improvement over previous years.

After Carey's about-face on the ticket issue, we understand how Coffey might have been confused about the extent of his success in dealing with the ticket office.

"I was a Boy Scout, and it really hurts to have your credibility questioned," Coffey told The Crimson. "But I think the important thing is that students were able to get tickets at the reduced rate. I just want to get back to business." After this unfortunate diversion, so do we.