Daniel Lomayesva, left, and Dylan Schuyler, right, share a passion for skateboarding, but disagree on whether students should be allowed to ride on campus.
Celina Oseguera
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Daniel Lomayesva, now a mechanical engineering freshman, once made his way to the top of a large hill in his friend’s neighborhood.
He looked out in front of him. Houses sprawled out below as he stood on the hill that suspended him above the neighborhood. He was a high school senior at the time.
Lomayesva got on his skateboard and started down the hill. As he carved down the steep, curvy roads, he felt like he was on top of the world.
“I remember feeling awesome,” he said. “All the neighbors outside mowing their lawns were giving me the weirdest looks, like, ‘What is this kid doing?’”
As he got further down the road, Lomayesva noticed something — he was hurdling toward a blind intersection. This intersection was known for being busy and he did not want to risk getting hit by a car. But he was going too fast to stop or turn out of the way.
The only way to avoid the intersection was to abandon the skateboard completely.
“I was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to dive for it and do a tuck and roll,” he said.
That thought is the last thing he remembers before waking up in the hospital.
Lomayesva later learned the impact from hitting the ground fractured his C5 vertebrae and the back of his skull.
“The part that fractured off my neck was extremely close to hitting my spinal cord, which would have paralyzed me,” he said.
Because of his experience, Lomayesva views the current university skateboarding policy, which prohibits skateboarding on campus, as reasonable.
“It sucks that we can’t ride longboards to class and stuff, but, like, really, it’s there to save lives,” he said about the policy.
Like Lomayesva, other Cal Poly students have their own opinions about the skateboarding policy.
Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) in October sent out a poll that gauged exactly how many students approved or disapproved of the policy, as well as student responses on other big issues. Approximately 69 percent of students surveyed opposed the ban on skateboards, longboards and scooters.
After seeing these results, ASI President and agricultural business senior Jason Colombini and his executive cabinet decided to tackle the problem.
ASI is currently working to see if a policy change is even possible. In order to do this, the ASI executive cabinet will start communicating with organizations on campus such as the University Police Department (UPD) to see if a policy change is in Cal Poly’s future.
“It’s basically a lot of meeting around,” Colombini said about the process.
Even if the executive cabinet cannot get enough information to vouch for a policy change this year, Colombini still wants to build a foundation for future presidents.
“Hopefully, we can set up future groups so they can work on skateboarding as well, if it’s not something we get to this year,” he said.
If ASI were to gather enough information to propose a policy change, the ASI Board of Directors would have to approve it before it becomes official.
Dylan Schuyler, a construction management freshman, is hoping for this outcome.
Schuyler had his first exposure to skateboarding when he was about 5 years old. His parents bought him his own skateboard when he was 7. Once he got that first board, there was no turning back — he was in love.
“Skateboarding is really cool because you are pretty connected to the ground,” he said. “It kind of takes you away from stuff, like problems and troubles you might have. It’s a distraction.”
Schuyler’s love for skateboards and Cal Poly’s no-skateboarding policy did not mix well. Because of this, he said he would support a change in policy.
“They are a great form of transportation,” he said of skateboards. “They’re fun.”
He mentioned how a skateboard’s small size makes it an ideal mode of transportation.
“With skateboards, you can easily keep it in your room,” he said. “You can easily hold it, walk, go to class if you want.”
To Schuyler, skateboards are more versatile than bikes in some aspects. For example, he said, a skateboard can be used to skate from one place to another without having to be locked up. The skater can put their board in a bag or walk with it.
University Police Department Chief George Hughes expressed his own opinion about the possibility of a policy change.
Hughes said having skateboards would be beneficial in some aspects.
“The positive of allowing skateboards on campus is, of course, it provides another means of alternative transportation on campus,” he said.
But there would also be negative consequences, Hughes said.
“Allowing skateboarders to travel in the very congested areas of campus, especially with pedestrians, is creating the opportunity for collisions and injuries,” he said. “In addition, we also have a very hilly topography on campus where skateboarders can easily pick up very fast and dangerous speeds without being able to stop.”
Colombini said he sees both the pros and cons as well, but he ultimately supports a policy change.