Campus Bans Skateboards, Roller Skates

Skateboarding and roller skating, both popular modes of transportation among college students, have been banned at California State University, Northridge.

“I don’t have anything against skateboards. It’s just that they do present a danger, and a university campus is not the proper place for them,” CSUN Police Chief Stanley Friedman said. “It may slow some people down, even to the point of being late for class, but what we’re talking here is risk management.”

No one on campus has been seriously injured as a result of skateboard or roller skating accidents, but there have been “a few potentially disastrous near misses,” Friedman said. The crackdown, he added, is designed primarily to protect hundreds of deaf and disabled students on campus.

Campus police are first issuing warnings to violators and taking down their names, Friedman said. The names--about two dozen so far--are being kept on file at police headquarters, he said. If a person is caught a second time, the offender will be cited and fined $18.