Students have no place for longboards except classroom
Without longboard racks on campus, students are forced to bring them in the classroom creating potential safety hazards
As the world attempts to go green, alternate forms of transportations are often encouraged. For students this includes riding bikes, scooters, skateboards and longboards instead of using gas emitting vehicles. With bikes being common, campus’ across the country are equipped with bike racks. But longboarders and skateboarders are left without a safe, secure location to lock their boards.
Oregon State currently allows skateboards and longboards on campus, as long as they are operated on roads or go no faster than walking speed on paths and sidewalks, but don’t offer a place to house them when students are in class.
Without racks, skateboards and longboards are being brought into the classroom because there is nowhere to leave them outside.
Longboards or skateboards underneath chairs, unattended in the corner of the room or propped up against a wall can cause safety hazards.
“I tried setting my long board on the chair in front of me and it fell and ended up hitting a girl’s back. I apologized but could tell she was angry,” said Oregon State Junior Ashley Seal. “So now I try to shove it under my feet if there’s enough room or leave it by the door if I can see it. Maybe if there were more racks, accidents like this could be prevented.”
There are no official rules or regulations about having a skateboard or longboard inside classrooms at OSU and professors are allowed to make rules at their own discretion.
However, there are strict rules at Dixon Recreation Center.
There are no longboards or skateboards allowed in the building, unless they’re carried in to check out a lock to lock it up on the skateboard racks outside. This is one of the only skateboard racks on campus.
Despite sporadic accidents, many professors don’t necessarily have strong opinions on boards in the classroom.
“I can honestly say I never noticed longboards in the classroom being an issue, but maybe that’s because my classroom is Milam auditorium and it’s a huge classroom,” said department of human development and family sciences professor Kathy Greaves.
Some of the reason skateboards and longboards may be dangerous in classrooms are related to the size of the classroom.
In smaller classes, there’s a higher chance of someone falling or slipping on a skateboard or longboard lying on the floor. In larger classrooms, there is less of a threat of injury or accident.
“For big lecture halls like Gilfillan Auditorium I get a little worried for the safety of students if a skateboard is hidden under a stair,” said geoscience department associate professor Larry Backer. “I don’t want someone to fall and get hurt. Most skateboarders seem to know this and are careful.”
Brittany Galindo, staff writer
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