With the amount of students who ride longboards around campus, having a convenient place to store the boards is important. When skateboarders were forced to leave their boards unattended in the hallway of the math and physics building, they were unsettled.
Around 6,100 students use the UCF mathematics assistance and learning lab (or MALL) every semester. Given the popularity of riding longboards among students, a great deal of them use longboards to get to the lab. Before, students at the MALL were allowed to keep their longboards in a rack inside the room. Recently however, the rack has been moved outside and into the hallway, where students are told to place their boards while they’re working. Many are upset with the new rule, claiming that their boards are in danger of being stolen.
Daniel Meagle, a UCF freshman says “I mean, anybody can just come by and take your board…and who wants to lose two hundred dollars (on a longboard) just because you can’t keep it inside the MALL.”
Other students do not see a problem with keeping their boards inside the lab. Xavier Parrilla, freshman, adds “It’s not like we make a lot of noise putting our longboards in the rack, and it’s a lot safer for us.”
Despite the overall disapproval from skateboarders, the math lab is keeping their new policy, claiming that the longboards were a safety hazard and a distraction to students.
Tammy Muhs, MALL Director, states “We’ve actually had a student trip on a skateboard before while leaving, as well as multiple complaints about the room being noisy while skateboards were removed from the rack during tests.”
The staff suggests to leave the boards at home, or to schedule your lab hours so that you have enough time to walk. However, they are looking into alternative methods such as asking SGA to fund the construction of a locking board holder for the hallway.
It’s a problem still unsolved, hopefully students can make the most of this new policy.
By: Philip Wheeker
