Re: UC-Irvine Steals Questions

I'd rather avoid the mass of flames, anonymous posts, and rumor 
mongering on this mailing list that has accompanied such events as 
NLIT 1999 or the Cam Affair. I don't really care if you do it in chat, 
by email, or in private. Also, my long missives tend to end debate, so 
maybe I can save us all some grief, at least until anyone else with 
relevant information supplies additional facts.

contact info as mentioned in previous posts for involved parties:
Willie Chen: willchen_at_...
GWACC: trivia_at_...
Edmund Schluessel: ers_at_...

To summarize: According to Edmund Schluessel's missive, GWU agreed to 
swap questions used at Wisconsin, Boston, Stanford, and GWU on 
February 3 for two packets and cash in return. Fifteen rounds were 
promised, 13.5 delivered. Schluessel, quoting private email, holds 
that Chen gave the following reasons for not paying: the questions 
were too hard and had to be replaced, and that Chen has stipulated 
that he owes money and has admitted to trying to get out of payment.

At this point in time, Willie Chen has not given a rebuttal of these 
allegations. 

Supplementary information and notes of where as-yet unnamed sources 
have been used as well as a question or two:

I assume this is Baby Anteater Bowl III, held on what appears to be 
February 16. I can find no record of an announcement or results 
eminating from Willie Chen or UCI for this particular tournament, 
however. 

The complaints Schluessel alludes to are presumably include those 
found on the message board of http://www.hsquizbowl.org which is run 
by Matt Weiner.

To quote Charles Meigs of Los Alamitos HS:

	In short, a decently well-run tournament marred by at times 
ridiculously hard questions with
           scattered ridiculously easy questions (Louis XIV, the 
Ottoman Empire) thrown in. To basically sum
           up the packets at the UCI tournament, the two Los Al 
A/Edison A games were won by Los Al by
           scores of 90 to 75 (of which one third of our points came 
due to a bonus on the Soccer War), and
           135 to 110 (such is what happens when ACF packets are used 
at high school tournaments). Los Al
           was the only team to break the 300-point mark at the 
tournament. Other good teams included
           Arizona State, Dana Hills, and Torrey Pines.

The curious question remains whether or not the "undisclosed source" 
can be identified. It may or may not be implied that such a source 
does not exist.

Unnamed sources described only as "California collegiate teams" were 
allegedly turned away for not meeting an arbitrary definition of JV 
eligibility. Ths subjective was used--"it was revealed"--begging the 
question who revealed this information. One also wonders what 
definition of JV eligibility was used and whether or not this is more 
or less arbitrary than whathe various different standards used by 
other tournaments.

References are made to interviewing teams that attended the 
tournament, but no teams are as of yet specifically named.

The following are available examples of UCI's writing/editing on the 
Stanford Archive. One can judge for one's self whether or not the 
question cite or packets received in private are representative of the 
question writing of Willie Chen and/or the UCI team.

http://www.stanford.edu/group/CollegeBowl/Archive/uci99/
http://www.stanford.edu/group/CollegeBowl/Archive/uci99/UCI.html
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:0KphaYDtWy8C:www.stanford.edu/gro
up/CollegeBowl/Archive/CCXI/r1-Irvine.doc+irvine+bonus+site:stanford.e
du&hl=en
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:DSpWPxLvk1kC:www.stanford.edu/gro
up/CollegeBowl/Archive/CCXII/UCI%2520Edited%2520013102.doc+irvine+bonu
s+site:stanford.edu&hl=en

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