Fee Increase Voted Down at Fullerton : Referendum: A May 21 deadline has been set to raise funds to save Titans’ fencing and men’s gymnastics programs.

The Cal State Fullerton fencing and men’s gymnastics teams suffered another setback when a school referendum to increase student fees, which would have created additional funds for the school’s financially troubled athletic department, was defeated by a student vote.

School President Jewel Plummer Cobb has set a May 21 deadline for acting on a proposal to cut the two programs, and has given the department until then to raise the additional $158,000 needed to keep the programs afloat.

Athletic department officials had hoped the referendum to increase the Instructionally Related Activity Fee, paid each semester by all students, from $10 to $15 would have generated a good portion of those funds.

Had the measure passed, an annual windfall of about $240,000 would have been created for the IRA fund, which supports co-curricular activities such as athletics and the school newspaper.

But Fullerton students voted down the referendum Thursday and Friday. School officials could not be reached Saturday for an official count, but Dick Wolfe, men’s gymnastics coach, said he was told by a secretary that the referendum had failed by 95 votes.

“I’m pretty depressed about it,” said Wolfe, who recently completed his 22nd year as Titan coach.

Additional fund-raising efforts for the programs are ongoing, but Wolfe said last week that his team’s fate would be determined by the referendum.

“If that referendum doesn’t pass, I think we’re history,” Wolfe said.

But Saturday, Wolfe held some hope. Not much, but some.

“I don’t know how heavy the referendum will weigh on things, but it certainly will have some weight,” he said. “Now I just have to wait and see what the next step is.”