Harvard stripped of 4 quiz tournament titles

BOSTON—Harvard University has been stripped of four quiz tournament titles after organizers found a student improperly accessed a competition website.

On its website, National Academic Quiz Tournaments says it vacated four Harvard wins from 2009 to 2011 and gave them to other schools.

The University of Minnesota now claims two championships, and the University of Chicago and Virginia Commonwealth University each have one.

Tournament officials say Andy Watkins accessed an administrative website containing information about questions on which he competed as a Harvard student.

Watkins, who also was a writer for the tournament organization, says he regretted his immaturity but competed in good faith for Harvard.

NAQT says there wasn’t evidence that Watkins took advantage of the access to help in game situations, but it vacated the wins because of fair play expectations.

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