The Associated Students Legislative Council discussed several matters of business at last night’s meeting and entertained a heated debate over Karl Rove’s scheduled appearance at UCSB this month.

In the public forum period, a representative of Santa Barbara Antiwar questioned the morality of funding conservative political figure Karl Rove’s Feb. 25 appearance. Council members maintained that the allotment of $12,933 to College Republicans to host Rove was justified in the name of entertaining diversity of opinion on campus.

“Why is UCSB hosting a documented war criminal?” Santa Barbara Antiwar representative Nate Padgett asked. “I want to know how you define diversity. I know you wouldn’t let a KKK member come speak, so what are the limits of diversity of ideas?”

Off-campus Representative Adam Goldman maintained that the students’ right to choose their own political alliances was the driving motivation for approving Rove’s visit.

A.S. President Charlie Arreola also said UCSB’s rising Chicano/a and Latino/a enrollment — now at 21 percent — may make the university eligible to apply for grants and internships for Chicano/a and Latino/a students if enrollment rises to 25 percent.

Members also discussed the idea of a lock-in oversight committee.

“This would give students more of a check on their money,” Arreola said.

The Council also sifted through a number of financial bills, approving small amounts for Zeta Phi Beta’s benefit party for Haiti, an army veterans’ question forum and snacks for a Public Health Brigades event.

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