Each student group received less money because the same percentage of the budget was split among more groups.

Smith said that voting to devote the same percentage of the budget to student groups actually constituted a decrease in student group funding, and that the only way not to have voted to decrease student group funding would actually have been to increase the percentage of the total budget devoted to the groups.

After the debate, several council members expressed disappointment in Smith’s approach, calling it ad hominem and inappropriately negative.

Smith defended his tactic.

“You have to talk about those types of things,” Smith said. “I think it’s completely in bounds. I think it’s wrong to attack people personally.”

Dispute alone didn’t characterize the debate, though.

After agreeing on multiple issues, Lurie and Maats told each other, “Maybe I should vote for you.”

To the amusement of audience members, Lurie criticized the House system by noting his inability to see “some really really good-looking girls in Quincy,” while Maats opposed preregistration on the grounds that professors “have an easy job already.”

Endorsements Ring Out

Many campus groups and prominent individuals have endorsed candidates.

Chopra and his running-mate, Jessica R. Stannard-Friel ’04, have officially received the support of the council’s First Year Social Committee, the Environmental Action Committee, the Radcliffe Union of Students, the Harvard AIDS Coalition, the liberal Perspective magazine and the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters’ Alliance (BGLTSA).

Chopra received the nod from BGLTSA even though Smith had served as the organization’s co-chair.

Maats said Associate Professor of Linguistics Bert Vaux endorsed him.

Smith received an endorsement from the Black Students Association, of which he is vice president, while his running-mate Chapa received approval from the Jews for Conservative Politics, as well as the Harvard Republican Club, of which he is an executive.

Smith and Chapa together received endorsements from Harvard Committee on Security Studies, the Harvard Collective, the Hispanic Scholars Society and the Native Americans at Harvard Association.

The Harvard Secular Society endorsed Lurie.

According to Darst’s campaign coordinators, he has received nods from Girlspot, Social Good Through Politics, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence and, in a split endorsement with Chopra, the Environmental Action Committee.

Voting ends this Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

—Staff writer Alexander J. Blenkinsopp can be reached at blenkins@fas.harvard.edu.