Lurie said approving the grant might cost the council its tax-exempt status, a claim which Chopra and several other council members dismissed as baseless.

HRCF officers declined to comment last night.

In other business, the council considered a large batch of new grants from its Finance Committee (FiCom).

FiCom Chair Joshua A. Barro ’05 and Vice Chair Jonathan D. Einkauf ’06 presented a sweeping amendment that would have selectively increased grants to respond to what they said was an unexpectedly small number of grant requests.

The amendment would have increased the amount of money given under the package by about $4000.

Barro and Einkauf said the council’s surplus in grant money should be redistributed to student groups.

However, FiCom members and other representatives said the amendment demonstrated a usurpation of power by Barro and Einkauf.

“Now, instead of FiCom giving grants, we have Josh and John giving grants, and I don’t think that is Josh and John’s job,” said FiCom member Thomas J. Mucha ’03.

The amendment was defeated by an 18-20 roll-call vote. Several members were apparently swayed by the fact that FiCom members voted against it.

An effort to commit the batch of grants back to FiCom for further consideration was defeated; the council passed the package unamended.

Afterward, Barro and Einkauf maintained that their proposal was intended to address the surplus in grant money and was not intended to undermine FiCom’s role.

Einkauf said that at the FiCom meeting last week, the committee was “very enthusiastic to leave,” ending the meeting before new business could be considered.

Barro said the council is “likely to end up with tens of thousands of dollars rolling over to next year.”

He said student groups submitting applications in coming weeks will probably find a disproportionately large amount of money coming their way.

“People should apply. There’s a big windfall awaiting,” Barro said.