[media-credit name=’Matt Hintz/The Badger Herald’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]

The student government approved a revised version of an event grant requested by Student Progressive Dane after a lengthy debate.

The Associated Students of Madison approved a $4,658 grant for Student Progressive Dane to bring an international speaker on civil liberties and Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald to campus.

Originally, the total grant amount requested by the organization was $5,595.

According to Finance Committee Chair Matt Beemsterboer, the request had been approved by the Finance Committee, but that it needed to appear before the student council because the grant exceeded the maximum amount the Finance Committee can fund without the council’s consent.

Both Student Services Finance Committee Chair Matt Manes and University Affairs Chair Carl Fergus raised concerns about the sum of money Progressive Dane had requested, specifically focusing on the travel costs for Greenwald to fly from Brazil.

“I think that as a council, we should take a stance and say that this is way too much,”  Fergus said.

Manes said there is no policy in existence for dealing with this grant considering the allocation of money toward international travel costs, and it would not be appropriate for the council to approve the original request.

Representative Jolie Lizotte disagreed with Manes and Fergus, highlighting the value of having an international speaker on campus.

“We want students to go and have international experiences,” Lizotte said. “In this case, it’s really that we’re bringing the international experience to the students.”

Beemsterboer said there should be no restrictions put bringing international experiences to students.

The council has approved travel fees for students around the same cost as the travel fees for Greenwald without batting an eye, Beemsterboer said.

A representative from Student Progressive Dane, Harriet Rawan, said she thought all the discussion by the council was unnecessary.

She said she wished she had known where the discussion was going so she could have informed the council that Greenwald was willing to negotiate his costs.

Chief Justice Kathryn Fifield also introduced a piece of legislation outlining budget bylaw changes for the Student Judiciary, defining the role of the SSFC will play in developing its budget.

The council will vote on the legislation next week.