The following is an abridged version of remarks delivered by Burton Harris during the presentation of the symbols of the College to President Hansen.

In the late winter of 1855, the Maine Legislative was nearing the end of its session, and Oren Cheney's hope to secure a charter for a new seminary seemed doomed. "The bill will not pass," the Senate chairman told Cheney.

Yet Cheney persisted - cajoling his acquaintances, outlasting his opposition, affirming his cause to all who would listen - and the Legislature approved the charter on the last day of the session. Cheney walked the bill to Governor Anson Morrell's office for his signature. By then it was late in the evening. The governor looked up from his work and said to Cheney, holding the promise of a life's work in his hand, "Well, Mr. Cheney, have you a bill there you want me to veto?" But Cheney would not be unnerved. "Yes Governor," he replied coolly. "If you want to."

The bill was signed; the institution born. Countless times since, Bates presidents would again bless Cheney's creation with the same determination, vision, care, and allegiance first brought to bear in the difficult founding of this college.

For only the seventh time since 1855, Bates has sought a new president - a leader who would not only personify those virtues, but also embody them in a way that would complement the excellence of our institution today and the challenges and hopes of our time. Today, we celebrate the happy confluence of our hopes and the promise of leadership offered by a new president.

On January 26, 2002, the Bates College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to elect you to serve as the seventh President of Bates College. Great optimism and deep confidence - in Bates, in your promise as our new president, and in the road we must travel together in the coming years - infused our proceedings.

For all ceremonial occasions, the president of Bates College wears the Presidential Collar, whose silverwork includes a trove of images symbolizing the academy, Bates, and the state of Maine. The collar was designed and crafted by Leverett H. Cutten of the Class of 1904, who presented it to the College in 1954 on behalf of his classmates during their 50th Reunion.

The collar is presented by Tahsin I. Alam '04 from Dhaka, Bangladesh, who is vice president of the student Representative Assembly, and Rachel N. Austin, assistant professor of chemistry.

The Record Book, containing the minutes of the corporation's first meeting and written in the flowing script of Oren Cheney, represents the longevity, high aspirations, and historical legacy of Bates College. The first meeting took place April 5, 1855, in a Freewill Baptist meetinghouse in Augusta built through the energies of Oren Cheney himself. On that day, 28 corporators first gathered to establish a corporation for a new literary institution - "of high order, on a broad basis, for coming time." The Record Book is presented by Dr. Helen A. Papaioanou '49, Trustee emerita.

The Keys symbolize the authority of the president. When Oren Cheney retired as president of the College in 1894, he handed the keys to the Maine governor to pass on to George Colby Chase. Cheney said, "These keys, the emblem of my authority for so many years, I now surrender to you, for you to place in his hands as the emblem of his authority." The Keys are presented by David T. Long, master electrician, Physical Plant.