"That hasn't stopped you from interrupting anyone else tonight," Plants shot back.

Driskell quickly took the chair back over, almost yelling at Plants and John P. Marshall '01: "As chair, you will respect John. It doesn't matter whether you like him or not. You will respect him. And he has the purview to interrupt you."

She went on to challenge Marshall's objections that the bill was improperly docketed and that it jeopardized future allocations.

Throughout the debate, Driskell continually said any budget shortfalls would be taken care of by an anonymous student donor--which led other council members to question the safety of that fallback position.

In the closing moments of debate, Darling reasserted his earlier concern that, if the funding falls through, the council will be liable for the shortfalls.

"This is a creatively-disguised $26,000 allocation," Darling said.

After almost two hours of debate, member Sujean S. Lee '03--who co-sponsored the original bill with Driskell--brought the council back from the brink of chaos.

"We've lost sight of the point of this bill," she said. "This is a wonderful opportunity for the council to improve life on campus."