The 16 finalists felt disbelief, pride, even ecstasy--they had made it through the preliminary round of senior Class Marshal elections, and for them, it was a moment to relish.

"It's the bomb," said Gwen Y. Shen '00, one of 16 finalists announced this weekend. Shen plans to postpone a wisdom tooth extraction until next week--just in case she wins. "I don't want to be celebrating with puffy cheeks," she said.

From Tuesday to Thursday of this week, seniors will vote a second time to select the eight marshals who will be responsible for representing their class until graduation and then beyond.

During the preliminary elections held last week in dining halls, seniors were asked to vote on a pool of 91 candidates, 51 female and 40 male. Each of the candidates had to compile a petition of 25 signatures in order to be put on the ballet.

This is the first year, due to the end of Radcliffe College, that the marshal election is no longer split into separate gender categories with four male and four female marshals.

The preliminary election resulted in a gender reversal, with the group of finalists consisting of ten males and six females.

But most finalists said that ultimately, they do not think the new system will affect the election much, and that there will still be a balanced group of marshals.

Most were not in favor of gender quotas, believing that the end of Radcliffe meant the beginning of a unified student body with fewer male-female divisions.

"That's the way it should be," said Alyssa B. Murphy '00.

However, when asked whether Harvard should impose quotas for the future, should this election result in a unbalanced group of marshals (all eight could be male), opinions were mixed. Some felt that the college would have the onus to step in to equalize the process, while others were in favor of simply letting the student body decide on the candidates.

Class marshals have a two-fold responsibility. They plan events for seniors during the year and coordinate senior week before graduation, which includes choosing a speaker for Class Day, the day immediately preceding Commencement.

After graduation they act as alumni representatives, planning reunions and raising money from their class. As reasons for running, the finalists were split between citing present responsibilities and future ones.

"I wanted to be connected to Harvard after graduation for the purpose of giving our class a voice for the future," said Sameera Fazili '00.

Other finalists simply said that they wanted to be a part of planning senior week because that was the last impression the class would have of Harvard.

But the finalists shared a belief that class marshal was not a position to campaign for. "Not campaigning is the whole point of marshal elections," said Terrence M. McNeil '00.

Many seniors said they viewed the entire process with some skepticism, feeling that the election was simply a large-scale popularity contest.

Finalists agreed that the elections were based on popularity, but gave reasons for why they thought that was the case.

"At first I thought that it was merit-based," said Brandon P. Jones '00, who pointed out that the class marshals advertisement listed not only names and faces but also the organizations with which each candidate was affiliated.

But Jones said he thought the election was based on popularity simply because "it's difficult to sift through 91 candidates."

He added that he felt the final election would be more merit-based because of the smaller candidate pool.

Finalists said they were surprised or excited to hear the news over the weekend. A sign announcing the finalists was posted outside Wadsworth House in Radcliffe Yard; most finalists heard by word of mouth.

Olivia T. Hunte '00 of Adams House said her roommates weren't home when she was told that she made the list.

"I ran next door to tell people and get a hug," she said.

Jones called the news "shocking and fun," while Tricia M. Michels '00 was "happily surprised."

Finalists did not comment on each other, but Michael P. Abate '00 said, "I would be very excited to work with any of them."

The finalists are Abate, Christopher A. Amar, Hector C. Bove, Samuel C. Cohen, Adam D. Colvin, Fazili, Hunte, Virginia Grace James, Jones, Justin M. Krebs, P. Terrence McGovern, McNeil, Michels, Murphy, Robby S. Schwartz, and Shen.

Final elections will be held in House dining halls during lunch and dinner, Tues. through Fri., Oct. 5-7.