Members of various organizations battled Thursday about Black Muslim Leader Louis Farrakhan’s appearance.

The result was communication.

After a heated discussion, representatives from the Hillel Jewish Student Association and the Black Student Union agreed to meet before Farrakhan’s NIU visit to plan an open forum following his lecture.

“Communication was necessary, hopefully, it will continue and get better,” Hillel President Joy Schreiber said.

Barbara Henley, NIU Student Affairs acting-vice president, said discussing differences is what education is all about.

The meeting “was a great success and communication was the key,” said John Fallon, Student Association senate speaker.

Members from each organization stated their feelings toward Farrakhan’s appearance. Hillel members started the meeting with collected Farrakhan quotes, such as, “The Jews have never been a philanthropic, good-hearted, good-willed fair dealing people with black people. You helped start the slave trade.”

Members of the Jewish organization found these remarks anti-semitic and anti-American, questioning why student funds were being used to have Farrakhan speak.

However, BSU members were quick to respond. “He (Farrakhan) attacks everybody righteously not wickedly,” said BSU member Antoin Howard.

“Give him (Farrakhan) a chance, directly listen to him,” said BSU Faculty Adviser Admasu Zike.

SA President Huda Scheidelman defended the SA Executive Board’s $4,000 allocation. “We don’t believe Farrakhan’s appearance will cause violence,” she said.

Student interest, time constraints and money were concerns for the executive board, Scheidelman said.

“A lot of students have interest for him,” and depending on profits from ticket sales the money might be returned, she said.

The executive board’s decision was a result of a request by the BSU to complete the contract. If Farrakhan would have accepted an upfront speaker fee of $6,000 instead of $10,000 then a revised contract would not have caused time constraints, Scheidelman said.

University Programming and Activities prepared a contract for Farrakhan allowing for an upfront speaker fee of $6,000. Farrakhan did not accept the proposal and asked for $10,000 upfront, Scheidelman said.

However, SA members were upset because under the SA Finance Committee’s bylaws, all SA funded activities charging admission must be brought before the Senate, Fallon said.

The allocation could have been voted on by the Senate if 13 senators requested an emergency meeting and a quorum of 26 senators were present.

“I don’t think the senators were aware of the situation,” Fallon said.

Because an emergency meeting was never called, the executive board allocated about .5 percent of the activity fee, $4,000. According to the bylaws, that is the total amount the executive board can allot.

The SA Supreme Court met Thursday to review a petition from Sen. Bradley Strauss and Sen. Jordan Kagan. The supreme court has the power to issue an injunction, a legally binding order to override the executive board’s allocation.