UNC School of the Arts skateboard ban is unique to the UNC system

Although seeing students rolling on their skateboards to get to class is not uncommon at UNC, other universities in the state have banned the practice.

But UNC School of the Arts student leaders are fighting back. Student Body President Daryl Wade is compiling a survey of different policies related to skateboarding at UNC-system schools in an attempt to reverse that ban.

At UNCSA, if a student is seen with a skateboard, it is taken away, Wade said.

“They tell the students that the reason for their policy is because it endangers their art,” he said.

“I am in support of using it to get from point A to point B because I can understand if someone is more comfortable with it or if someone needs to get to a place faster, they should be allowed to,” Wade said.

UNCSA’s policy states that the ban is in place because skateboarding can endanger the safety or health of members of the school community.

At UNCSA, student injuries are a big concern because the students are mostly in fine arts programs, and an injury could prevent them from working.

“We have had accidents on campus that have injured them, and this has prevented them from doing their art,” said Anne White, vice chancellor for student life.

White said they’ve already had one student fall and break both of his arms while skating, preventing him from doing his artwork for six months.

Students at UNCSA have tried to change this policy before, but their attempts have been unsuccessful.

“So far they haven’t gotten very far in the last three years that I’ve been here,” he said.

Appalachian State University is another UNC-system school that does not allow skateboarding, Wade said.

However, ASU bans skateboarding due to a city ordinance. Local officials did not want campus to become the skating hub of Boone, Wade said he was told by the ASU Student Body President, Jonathan Meisner.

UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, UNC-Wilmington and Winston-Salem State University are some of the state universities that allow skateboarding.

WSSU Student Body President Whitney McCoy said skateboarding is not common at the university, but UNCW Student Body President Mark Blackwell said the students make the most of their freedom because the campus is flat and conducive to skateboarding.


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