One day before Amartya Sen delivers the Commencement address to the Class of 2000, three seniors will share their speeches with their peers on Class Day.

For the first time, Class Day will feature two Harvard Orations--speeches given by undergraduates that are meant to be inspirational--rather than a Harvard Oration and a Radcliffe Oration, delivered by a female undergraduate. The system was changed after Radcliffe's merger with Harvard last year, but class committee members said they wanted to maintain the same number of speeches.

"We wanted as many as in the past to share their ideas with their classmates," said Justin M. Krebs '00, the First Class Marshal and a member of the class committee which selected the speakers.

Jason R. Stevenson '00 and Brooke M. Ellison '00 will give the two Harvard Orations and Jacob F. Lentz '00 has been selected to give the Ivy Oration--a comical speech that "tends to absurdity and ridiculousness," Krebs said.

Krebs' words were selected to be read in the Class Ode, which traditionally accompanies one verse of "Harvard, Fair Harvard."

Lentz answered questions about the content of his Ivy Oration with the same humor he plans to bring to his speech.

"It's about three things--College, graduation and soccer," Lentz said. "Make no mistake about it, it has a profound political message that is so subtle many might miss it and in that regard it's a lot like Soccer Dog."

Stevenson said that his Harvard Oration "looks at today and into the future. It has a lot about the Yard."