Undoubtedly, campus-wide interest in this historically uneventful selection process is at an all-time high. For an election which, in years past, often featured arm-twisting by administrators to persuade potential candidates to enter the field, this process has fostered an open and informed debate, and the emergence of a number of qualified candidates eager to take on the duties of serving the class. More seniors than ever before have participated in this debate - one fact alone which will certainly be of significant and positive long-run benefit for our class.

We feel that it is important to briefly outline why we were opposed to the notion of Co-Presidents. Primarily, we believed that thedebate waged in the name of better representation was in reality a blatant and unapologetic attempt to institutionalize a political power grab. Two individuals were trying to pool separate electoral coalitions to put their candidacy ahead of those candidates running as individuals. Moreover, they did so after the original nomination period had closed.

Co-Presidents it seemed to us, were altogether unnecessary. Historically, Senior Class President and Secretary have done an outstanding job in organizing events and rallying the class. For example, last year's President and Secretary helped achieve a Bates record in Senior Class Gift participation, as 72.1% of the class contributed to a scholarship fund to benefit relatives of Bates employees. Furthermore, the fact that some, and not all, alumni classes had Co-Presidents always elected at alumni reunions and featuring one serving the east coast and one serving the west coast -- did not have any bearing on the present duties of the Class Officers and seemed like a bad argument coming from chief proponents who hailed from Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Furthermore, the amendment offered to the RA constitution (which was twice soundly defeated) was poorly written. It didn't cap the number of people who could run together on the same ticket, allowing 2, 10, or 100 people to run together if they so desired. We couldn't think of an office, other than football captain, where so many people shared the same title or duties. The amendment was also vague because it didn't specify the standard operating procedure for the annual election. Instead, it created an incentive for people not to run individually, as had been done traditionally for 142 years, but to pool electoral coalitions and manipulate the election.

With regard to Senior Class input on the issue, we talked to many Seniors who shared our concerns. At last Monday's RA meeting, where a petition was offered to reconsider the issue, one Senior noted that the petition was in itself misleading. While 150 or so Seniors signed the petition, it was unclear whether they did so in support of Co-Presidents or whether in doing so they meant that they thought Seniors themselves, and not the RA, should decide the issue. It was also pointed out that every person in our class had been person ally invited via campus mail to attend the RA meeting of Jan. 19 to give their input on the issue -- and, unfortunately, hardly any Seniors attended.

Finally, we wondered why two individuals were so emphatic about changing one office instead of adding more offices? If better representation and more people were what was needed to fulfill the duties of the Class Officers, why weren't we talking about adding a Vice-President or a Treasurer to the list of offices? Our only answer to this question was that this was a false debate -- not one based on enhanced representation but one centered around giving some a distinct electoral advantage.

Clearly, the officers elected on February 6 will have their work cut out for them in their attempts to bring our class together. Most seniors wholeheartedly agree with the unfortunate assessment that many of us might not even recognize our classmates sitting on either side of us at commencement. We, like many other classmates, also recognize that this possibility is a tragedy. Thankfully, this prolonged election process has ensured that whoever is elected to fill the positions of secretary and president will bring with them an abundance of energy, an enormous amount of personal resolve to get things done, and an inexhaustible drive to Conaid the senior class in fully realizing its collective community potential.

The individual duties of senior class president and secretary are ill-defined: everyone from the Student Activities Office, to the dean's office, to the Alumni House gives you different answers on who does what. However, what is certain - and most important - is that while the secretary and president are elected separately, they must do everything together. This means joint planning, organizing and coordinating an extensive number of activities and events in the coming months. We believe that it is in the best interest of our class to select a strong team that shares a common vision and works well together, to lead our class. We feel strongly that Ferrari/Muñoz is that team.

In an icier-than-usual winter, where the warm and green Maine spring seems eons away, we write to offer you an historic vision which we believe allows the Class of 1998 - by working together and strengthening personal relationships - to leave a distinct and indelible mark on life at Bates. Our team vision for the remainder of senior year relies fundamentally on an implementation of three main principles: 1) fostering senior class unity; 2) building a better community; and 3) promoting greater individual and group responsibility.

We sincerely want a senior class that will look back upon its final days at Bates with a remarkable sense of satisfaction. We know that this can only come from much hard work and many planned opportunities for seniors during the remainder of the year. We propose at least two senior class events per month prior to short term toward fulfilling this goal.   In addition, we pledge at least two such events per week during short term prior to senior week. 

These events would be in addition to traditional informal nights out at local establishments and regular new short term events such as Wednesday night "Senior Capture the Flag on the Quad" followed by "Burgers and Beers" at the Cage. For senior week specifically, we propose a number of new events in addition to the traditional ones, such as a student/faculty field day and barbecue, a trip to Portland for a Seadogs game and night out in the Old Port, and a fully-catered champagne semi-formal in a venue capable of holding any relative or Bates student who wishes to attend. A number of new suggestions have been made already this year such as a skiing outing and a community service day. In keeping with this spirit of seeking out additional input, we urge members of the senior class to share with us their new ideas. We will be at a table outside Commons next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings and hope to hear more from YOU.

We also envision coming together to build a better Bates community by leaving a lasting legacy with our Class Gift. While the administration has failed to act swiftly in addressing the needs of physically and mentally disabled students at Bates - despite the fact that they purport in official Bates publications that they have an action plan to do so - we intend to energize and revolutionize the Class Gift to do so ourselves.

We propose a five-year plan to accomplish the following goals: 1) establish a trust fund for future accessibility improvements, e.g. making the physically inaccessible 50 percent of campus accessible by 2003 (our fifth-year reunion); and 2) create a Bates Accessibility Coordinator under the dean of students office for the coordination of extensive services for students with physical, mental, learning, and/or other disabilities. We feel strongly that if Bates truly wants to be considered among the very best liberal arts colleges in the country, it has an obligation to provide services that public educational institutions already provide but which Bates does not because it is not required to by law. How many exceedingly qualified students is Bates losing per year because of the inaccessibility of its campus?

Further, we propose to accomplish these goals via a five part solution: 1) achieve a Bates record 100 percent Class Gift participation rate; 2) make our gift a five-year giving campaign: we propose that each year, each member of our class be asked to match or enhance his/her gift from the previous year to be earmarked to our special fund; 3) seek matching funds for the Class Gift each year from the Bates General Fund; 4) seek matching funds from one or more private benefactors (the president has already indicated to us his willingness to identify and personally approach such individuals); and 5) undertake a special alumni giving campaign and local business giving campaign for our accessibility fund.

Finally, our class' progress at Bates has continually been marked by transition. From our very first experiences at orientation to coming to terms with a vastly different social scene over the last year, our class has been embroiled by conflict and transition.

Our ambitious vision for the months ahead asks us all to put aside personal petty conflicts and undergo one final transition - in preparation for our final days at Bates - where we come to a new collective understanding with each other by demanding more from ourselves and by working together to strengthen both our class and our community.

Motivated to lead by a strong desire to give something back to a community that has given so many opportunities to us, we believe we've offered a strong vision to help our class realize its full potential. We can overcome our differences, put our money where our mouth is, and have a lot of fun along the way. We urge you to attend the candidate's debate on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Muskie Archives, and we urge you to vote Ferrari/Muñoz - the best team with the best vision.

Mike Ferrari and Tyler Muñoz

Candidates for senior class president and secretary