Some students may find themselves bewildered by the idea of a two house system for Student Council. Others may feel confused by the apparent suddenness of the idea.

Randy Hann, president of Student Council, claims that the idea is not really as new as it may seem. "In previous years the change to a bicameral system has been discussed but has never been worked on to any great extent."

This fall, the idea was again looked into and then dropped for the time being. The Constitution Revisions Committee succeeded in initiating nine amendments to improve the present constitution. Then about mid-January, with the prompting of others, Randy decided to consider once again a two house system.

According to Randy, one of the more frequent arguments for such a system is the complaint of students that "Since we are taught the advantages and mechanics of American government, why don't we practice a comparable system in our own school?''

Concerning the advantages of the proposed change, Randy comments, "It will increase representation, and we're hoping that it will also increase overall effectiveness. Committees will be smaller, and kids will have to learn to

accomplish more in shorter amounts of time. Possibly too, it will alleviate the first period social gatherings and put Council in a more serious position."

Randy himself wrote the original draft for a new constitution. He combined ideas from our present constitution with others from the Maine South and Maine East bicameral constitutions. The Executive Committee then met for a day long brainstorming session during which they reworked Randy's draft.

It was then presented to the Student Council which, after over a week of discussion, finally voted by a two‑thirds majority to accept it. What remains is for the new system to be ratified by two‑thirds of the homerooms.

Randy hopes that "all students will seriously consider this plan and give it a chance." Randy stresses that "Once this plan is formally ratified, that does not mean that it cannot be amended."

The importance of voting on the proposed changes by the end of this week cannot be emphasized enough, according to Randy. "Elections for next year begin immediately following spring vacation and must be conducted according to which constitution we are under."