Candidates for Undergraduate Council president and vice president engaged in a lively debate hosted by the Harvard Black Men’s Forum (BMF) last night, focusing largely on student groups.

The event, attended by about 30 students, included all three presidential candidates and all vice presidential candidates except Ian W. Nichols ’06, who left to attend a meeting of the council.

Matthew J. Glazer ’06 pointed to the success of his running mate and council treasurer Clay T. Capp ’06, in increasing council spending on student groups to 67 percent of its budget.

Teo P. Nicolais ’06 said that he and his running mate Samita A. Mannapperuma ’06 would bring a history of work with student groups if elected.

“Samita and I are the number one advocates for student groups on campus,” Nicolais said.

He added he had sent over 9,000 e-mails in the past year to student groups while serving as chair of the council’s Finance Committee.

Tracy “Ty” Moore II ’06, who won the BMF’s endorsement after the debate, pointed to his experience as chair of the Dunster House Committee, and said he plans to improve communication between student groups and the council.

Also at yesterday’s debate, candidates voiced hopes to bring about better student representation to the Curricular Review committees, a stronger system of advising and more attention to diversity in Faculty hiring.

—EVAN H. JACOBS