The Campus Elections Commission recently rejected a request to hold a re-vote on the Intercollegiate Athletic Scholarships Fee that failed to pass in the campus’s spring elections.

A group of student athletes brought a formal complaint to the administration several weeks ago, demanding a reevaluation of the lock-in fee, claiming that misleading terminology had caused the measure to fail by 11 votes. According to the students, the ballot measure had incorrectly stated that the fee was originally approved by UCSB voters in 2002, when it had actually first been approved in 1998.

The fee, which sought $9 per quarter (excluding summer) from students, would have funded existing NCAA athletic scholarships for UCSB student athletes.

Chris Wendle, a member of the CEC and former Associated Students internal vice president, said the CEC and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Michael Young chose to uphold the student body’s 60.2 percent ‘no’ vote on the referendum in the spring elections.

“We went ahead and listened to [the student athletes’] concerns and the committee then talked about whether it was feasible and whether it was proper grounds for a re-vote and the commission decided to not go forward with the re-vote,” Wendle said.

According to Director of Athletics Mark Massari, the referendum — previously approved by students in 1998, 2002 and 2006 — grants aid to 300 of the 500 student athletes competing for UCSB.

Massari said the initiative’s failure will inevitably change the structure of the Intercollegiate Athletics Dept.

“If we don’t have money for scholarships, it’s hard to win games,” Massari said.