Cal State Fullerton Students Face Vote on Athletics Fee

Cal State Fullerton’s 22,600 students will be asked to decide next week whether to assess themselves a $14-a-semester athletics fee.

The campus election was called by the directors of Associated Students, the student-government organization. If approved by a majority of students voting next Wednesday and Thursday, the fee would raise about $500,000 a year for Cal State Fullerton’s athletics department.

The department already has shut down the football program. Chris Lowe, president of Associated Students, said the fee would not guarantee the return of football to the campus, “but it’s a big step.”

If the $14 fee passes, students would get free admission to athletic events on campus. The fee would go into effect in the fall semester of 1994.

Lowe, 23, of Placentia said Tuesday that he had urged the Associated Students board of directors to put the fee on the campus ballot. Lowe said he sought the action because of widespread indications on campus that students are worried about the future of athletics in general and football in particular.

“There are a number of signs around campus that say, ‘I Want My Titan Football,’ ” Lowe said. “I don’t think the university is going to put any money toward the football program. A student referendum such as this is the only kind of situation that could possibly bring it back.”

Lowe stressed, however, that passage of the proposed fee would not require university officials to restore football.

“If it is approved, the athletic department will work with the athletic council,” he said. The council is an advisory body.

Lowe said the athletic department and athletic council will decide jointly “what’s the best use for that money.”

Lowe said he thinks athletics “contribute to the college experience.” He added, “I think athletics contribute to student spirit and give students a sense of pride in their university. The football program has already been taken away a year, and if it’s not brought back next year, I don’t think it will ever return.”

Bill Shumard, CSF athletics director, said Tuesday that the proposed fee would be a great help to campus sports. “It would be tremendous,” he said. “Because of state budget cuts, the athletics department has lost about $700,000 in funding during the past two years. This would give us some welcome relief.”

Shumard said Cal State Fullerton’s current funding of athletics puts the university “near the bottom of the Big West Conference.”

Student passage of the proposal would add $14 each semester to the $1,162 fee charged to CSF students taking six or more units of instruction. The existing student fees include a $49 levy each semester to pay for the campus’ new University Center. Students voted for that fee about three years ago, campus spokesman Jerry Keating said.

Many California universities have special fees approved by students for specific purposes. Students at UC Irvine in 1982 voted to assess themselves a $69 yearly fee to pay for a new gymnasium and activities building, now called the Bren Events Center.

In the early 1980s, students at Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles approved a $4-a-semester fee for athletics. During the past three years, students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Chico and San Francisco State University also approved special fees in support of athletic programs.

Nonetheless, students do not often take actions to add fees on themselves, said Robbie Nayman, vice president of student affairs at Cal State Fullerton.

“I think it’s fair to say that these are not ordinary occurrences,” Nayman said.