The fees charged to students went into a pool of money, from which all athletics were funded. In those days, the students watched the expenditures carefully, and I believe there was a concern that since football was the largest expenditure, the money might be better used elsewhere. Anti-war sentiment was also a part of the discussion to stop funding football.
I remember one UB men's basketball game in which one of the referees had to travel from Minneapolis to Buffalo to work the game. The ref charged the university for his travel expenditures, which he was allowed to do, including airfare from Minneapolis to Buffalo. This was much more than most ref's travel expenses, as most refs came from within driving distance. The Student Association was angered by these charges, and wanted to prevent referees from traveling from so far away to work UB games. I don't know what happened.
Ketter announced the dropping of football in 1971, according to Wikipedia (which could be wrong). I doubt he had much say in the actual decision, even though he made the announcement. Meyerson was only UB president until 1969 (again according to Wikipedia).
Trivia I didn't know: Ketter designed the Buffalo and Erie County Library in downtown Buffalo.