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Editor:
I frequently walk through campus only to hear what sounds like a disoriented woodpecker who is having trouble with its work. Alas, I find that it is only UA's erratic visitors - the many skateboarders who saunter about the sidewalks and building steps. A few weeks ago, the Wildcat did a piece on the issue of skateboarding on campus. I don't see why the pointless practice isn't banned - period.
I'm surprised that this problem is not more readily addressed by UAPD. Few if any of these young people are students. If I were to walk around with a two-by-four plank of wood, recklessly striking the sidewalk, steps, benches and other concrete objects close to the ground, I would probably be arrested. My arrest would be justified since I was attempting to damage public property. This is exactly what is taking place, albeit in a slightly different manner.
What is difficult for me to understand is how anyone can actually derive pleasure out of this pastime of manipulating a wooden board with wheels. I therefore propose that the authorities confiscate the skateboard of any young person who has been observed "hot-dogging." In exchange for the skateboard, the child will receive a hula-hoop, which is far less threatening yet equally absurd.
(Seriously, I have witnessed several instances where those on skateboards have almost collided with walking pedestrians. Of course, this poses a potential legal liability for the university; one which, with the enactment and at least partial enforcement of regulation, could be easily avoided).
My undergraduate alma mater in California banned skateboarding three years ago. There is an unbecoming element lurking around the school still. Yet while pigeons are often as unkempt looking as the average juvenile skateboarder, they at least go about their business quietly and are seldom heard. In fact, the only threat which they do pose can be easily washed out or avoided with a hat.
James F. Tracy
media arts graduate student
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