This message is being written as a call for action. We believe a terrible injustice has been perpetrated by the IEEE Board of Directors at its last meeting in November. We are hoping to right this wrong.

Dr. Arthur Winston, past Region 1 Director, past Chairman of the Boston Section and presently Vice-president for Educational Activities of the IEEE was nominated by the IEEE nominations and Appointments committee to be a candidate for President-elect in 2001. We were very happy with this recommendation because we believe that Arthur is one of the best things to have happened to IEEE in recent years. Unfortunately, due to parliamentary maneuvering at the Board of Directors meeting, his name was removed from the final list.

At the Board meeting, several of the directors, anxious to re-nominate candidates who had lost in this year's election, arranged to limit the list of potential nominees. As a result, the final slate as presented by the Board, which has the last say, now consists of two of the three candidates who lost the election this year. There are no new names on the slate.

We believe that the concept is wrong and we hope to correct it. Under any condition we believe our constituents should have the right to vote for a fresh candidate. We also believe it should be a capable person and Arthur Winston is the very best. He was nominated by the Board's own N & A committee. For the first time they had done anything like this in years, he was endorsed by the Education Activities Board.

With both an industrial and an academic background, he commands respect in both camps. He was one of our best and most active Region 1 Directors and recently revitalized our IEEE educational system. In his quiet way, Arthur is a shaker and doer. We are proposing that he be added to the ballot via the petition route, the only avenue open to us since the Board of Directors saw fit to bypass him.

We need your help in this effort. Petition candidates require over three thousand signatures in order to be placed on the ballot. This calls for everyone's signature. JUST TO GET ART'S NAME ON THE BALLOT.

Signing the petition doesn't commit anyone to vote for Arthur. It just means that you want the RIGHT to vote for him if you choose. It means that you want his name added to the slate.

We ask EVERYONE to fill out and sign the attached petition. Then you will have the opportunity to read his background, opinions, recommendations along with those of the other candidates, those sponsored by the board of directors. We believe that you will see the obvious differences in the candidates and will realize that Arthur stands the best chance of revitalizing the IEEE. And that is just what we need.

Please complete and sign the attached petition. Get your friends, even your enemies, to sign. We don't have much time.

Send the petitions to Bob Alongi at IEEE Boston office, 240 Bear Hill Road, Waltham, MA 02451, and do it now, before you forget. This is a bandwagon we all want to join.