The amendment failed by a vote of 11 to 32, with a single abstention, and the grant package was ultimately approved.

Some representatives opposed to the grant said the walkout would hurt the educational opportunities of students who choose not to participate in the event.

“The central feature of the walkout is to be disrespectful to your fellow students and your professor,” said council member Thomas J. Mucha ’03.

Representative Thomas J. Wright ’06 said the protests outside the Science Center would be “loud and disruptive.”

“It’s not appropriate to impress your beliefs on others in a way they have no control over,” Wright said.

The council also passed several other measures at last night’s meeting.

One bill allowed the council’s Campus Life Committee to manage a partnership with the office of University President Lawrence H. Summers for organizing Springfest and “to ensure that this partnership is of near equals and that one party is not allowed to trump the other.”

The bill, which passed easily, is meant to maintain the council’s say in Springfest planning. In the time since Summers’ office sponsored last year’s fair, students have complained that in making Springfest a University-wide event, the interests of undergraduates may have been overlooked.

The council passed a bill allocating $15,000 to the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC), so that HCC may submit bids for a performance on campus by a well-known comedian on May 4.

The comedians who may receive bids from the council are Dave Chappelle, D.L. Hughley, Jimmy Fallon, Jim Breuer and Darrell Hammond.

The council also approved a resolution encouraging the Freshman Dean’s Office to increase funding for the Prefect Program by almost one-third, and a position paper stating that University Health Services should run a website to provide more information to students on mental health.

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