It's a kinder, gentler Undergraduate Council.

This year's race for the council does not surround the kind of political issues which have been known to surface during council campaigns of the past. Gone are the days of heated debate about ROTC, divestment and final clubs.

This year's campaign doesn't have scathing attacks on the shortcomings of last year's members.

In fact, it doesn't even have that many candidates vying for the 88 council slots.

Actually only 106 candidates have registered to run for the council this week--down from 168 last year--so that incumbents expect to dominate races that appear to lack any genuinely divisive issues.

In several houses, including Cabot, Dunster, Kirkland and Mather, only five candidates are vying for five seats. Quincy House is the site of the heaviest competition, yet it has only nine candidates wrestling for five positions.

This year's campaigns reflect the council's shift in recent years towards more service-oriented issues, according to outgoing chair Robert C. Rhew '92. He says that, in the past, the council had taken a greater interest in "very practical approaches to things" instead of debating "esoteric" political issues.

The most popular campaign issues center around greater communication between the council and its constituents, better shuttle services, improved campus security and repealing limited randomization of housing choices.

First-year candidates are presenting the most exhaustive and specific lists of campaign promises, responding to complaints about long lines in the Union and expository writing sectioning while vowing to facilitate recycling and put change machines in the laundry rooms.

Because the campaigns are generally far less competitive this year, one veteran council representative expressed skepticism about the quality of candidates campaigning this year.

"With a considerable lack of candidates, and people basing their candidacy on who they know, the council may have a serious problem with attendance by the end of the semester," said the representative, who asked not to be identified.

Under the council's "hare proportional vote" balloting scheme, voters indicate the order of preference they hold for candidates. Thus, candidates have a better chance of victory if they have a smaller group of voters who strongly support them rather than a larger group of voters who grudgingly support them, according to last year's council Secretary David L. Duncan '93.

"I think there are too many candidates who see an opening and think they can get elected because they have friends in their house," the delegate added noting that there are "lots of candidates who really aren't that strong."

But Steven N. Kalkanis '93 of Quincy House insists that this year--even more than in previous years--that candidates "will take things seriously" and plan "to take an active role."

"I'm happy with what I see," he says. "The [candidates] that I've met are very diligent."