Twenty-five Undergraduate Council members took part in a heated and often hostile debate late last night over whether to endorse a last-minute plan to bring the rap group De La Soul to campus.

Treasurer Michael P. Beys '94, who secured the deal, argued last night that the council should pay the group the $10,000 it wants to spotlight the "Rock for Shelter" concert to be held May 1.

But concert organizers reacted against what they said was an un-necessary intrusion by Beys, who does not sit on the ad-hoc committee charged with handling the concert.

Committee members accused Beys with disrupting their efforts to go forward with the charity event in which they planned to feature three lesser-known acts.

In the past two weeks, efforts to secure big-name bands such as Squeeze, the Indigo Girls, Big Audio Dynamite and 10,000 Maniacs have proved fruitless.

Beys said that he thought the council should jump at the deal.

"I basically made a phone call yesterday and got a big band for a cheap price," Beys said. "I would assume the Rock For Shelter committee would go along with it."

The impromptu meeting last night was called because the next scheduled councilmeeting falls after a deadline given to Beys by DeLa Soul. The deadline is today.

Council members voted via a telephone poll tobypass a meeting of the full council and earlythis morning council officials began to tabulatevotes on the issue of whether to endorse Beys'deal.

As of 2 a.m. this morning, 51 of 79 councilmembers had cast their votes via telephone,although council officials would not release earlyresults.

Even if the council votes to endorse Beys'deal, there is a chance that De La Soul willreject the bid, Beys said in an interview afterthe meeting.

At the meeting, Robert C. Rhew '92, chair ofthe ad-hoc committee, argued that Beys' planrisked ruining what he called a "guaranteedsuccess."

"Rock For Shelter's purpose is to raise moneyfor the homeless," Rhew said. "That is beinglost."

Beys, who drew criticism last month forobtaining council sponsorship of a privatelyfinanced concert by the Spin Doctors, said the DeLa Soul show would likely earn $8700 to $12,700for the needy.

But the specter of heavy losses in recentbig-name council concerts like Suzanne Vega andZiggy Marley caused some members to say that De LaSoul would not be worth the financial risks.

"De La Soul will not sell out, and we run thelikely danger of taking a loss on a benefitconcert," Rhew wrote in a prepared report. "Can weafford to lose money when the purpose of the eventis to raise money for the homeless?"