Scott Barger’s need for speed began 10 years ago. He has since got­ten involved in both skate­board­ing and long­board­ing through­out the years.

Barger, an FSU junior in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, said one rea­son it’s become pop­u­lar in the last two years is because it’s fun, eas­ier and more con­ve­nient, while being a quick means of trans­porta­tion. Barger recently started an open Facebook group called FSU Longboarding in which stu­dents can get together and ride.

However, there is a pol­icy ban­ning skate­boards and long­boards on cam­pus. According to ordi­nance 5.4a, “The use of any skate­board, rollerblades, roller skates, coaster, scooter, or sim­i­lar wheeled device is pro­hib­ited.” The law regard­ing skate­board­ing and long­board­ing on cam­pus is fairly straight­for­ward and has been in effect for over 20 years to help min­i­mize the dan­ger to those on campus.

Louis Kostielney, an FSU junior in polit­i­cal sci­ence, feels the pol­icy is com­pletely unjust.

“The pol­icy should be changed imme­di­ately for such a bla­tant infringe­ment onto our rights,” Kostielney said.

Longer than a skate­board and loosely akin to a surf­board with wheels, the long­board is an increas­ingly pop­u­lar trans­porta­tion choice for stu­dents on cam­puses nationwide.

Kostielney said there is no dif­fer­ence between a bike and long board or skate­board as both are means of transportation.

“This pol­icy is de facto and it vio­lates the 9^th Amendment of the United States Constitution which clearly states, ‘The enu­mer­a­tion in the Constitution, of cer­tain rights, shall not be con­strued to deny or dis­par­age oth­ers retained by the peo­ple,’ Kostielney said.

Students feel walk­ing around cam­pus, and to class, takes up a major­ity of the time spent on cam­pus. Students often want to cut that travel time in half in order to make time for dif­fer­ent activ­i­ties around cam­pus. To make travel faster around cam­pus, stu­dents buy long­boards or skateboards.

On behalf of FSUs’ Department of Public Safety, Captain Jim Cook said that besides safety rea­sons, there have been prob­lems with dam­age to prop­erty such as benches due to skate­boards. However, Barger dis­agrees in which the view on skate­board­ing needs to change.

“We must dif­fer­en­ti­ate the skate­board­ing and long­board­ing styles. Skateboarding is asso­ci­ated with the mis­con­duct of van­dal­ism, such as grind­ing rails. This is not the case with a long­board. Longboards are longer and heav­ier, which means more sta­bil­ity and con­trol,” Barger said.

Barger said long­boards shouldn’t be looked at as a threat because you are able to jump off, slow­down with and main­tain control.

“Longboarding isn’t the issue when it comes to acci­dents. It’s a means of trans­porta­tion on cam­pus,” Barger said.

Sheldon Eustice, a junior in plas­tics engi­neer­ing, was stopped by pub­lic safety for long­board­ing on campus.

Eustice said, “I was told I had to pick up my board or they would have to take it.”

Barger said there are areas on cam­pus that have space for employee long­boards and there is no issue of hav­ing boards car­ried into classes. The school seems not to mind, yet the police have to enforce the rules, though they don’t have a neg­a­tive view on the mat­ter either. In Big Rapids, the only area that is pro­hib­ited is Zone C2, the down­town area.

With over 13,000 stu­dents enrolled at Ferris, Barger feels the best solu­tion would be cre­at­ing lanes on the cam­pus, allow­ing bicy­clists and long­board­ers to travel and be sep­a­rated from those walking.

“This would be a great way to decrease the rate of injuries and putting stu­dents out of harm’s way,” Barger said.

Barger sug­gested adding time frames for long­board­ing. For exam­ple, long­board­ing could be allowed after 2 p.m. to avoid mid-day crowds. However, Big Rapids Department of Public Safety states no long­board­ing, skate­board­ing or any device with wheels is allowed on city side­walks. This is a city ordinance.

“It’s all about cruis­ing and hav­ing fun.Riders don’t want to bother any­one,” Barger said. n