New trends emerge and develop everywhere, and this year skateboarding seems to be the leading trend at Seton Hall.
In the past, skateboarders could occasionally be seen circling the Green or carrying a board to class. This year, the sightings of skaters have become more frequent on and off campus.
Skateboarders sophomore Katie Fell and senior Kristen Velloza said they have some theories as to why there are so many skateboarders.
One of the theories is that the encouragement of the administration to get creative in finding alternate modes of transportation to campus due to the parking shortage, according to Fell and Velloza.
They said another theory as to why the sport is catching on is the physical advertisement of it.
"Seeing others makes me think about skateboarding more on campus," Fell said. "You don't want to be the only one."
Velloza added that she would like to see a club created.
"I'm just starting to skateboard and don't feel good enough to ride on campus, but a way to meet up with other students that do who could teach me would be great," Velloza said.
Fell also mentioned that the creation of a club would be a way to help foster the trend as it would create a way for students who skateboard to meet and trade tricks.
Fell said she noticed the rise in skateboards on campus, but is still hesitant to bring her board since the rules regarding skateboarding are unclear and rarely addressed.
"I always hesitate to bring my board to campus because I don't know which areas are okay for me to ride in," Fell said.
The only clear rules the two skateboarders said they know of for skateboarding are found in the regulations for the Recreation Center and the residence halls -both of which prohibit skateboarding inside the buildings.
However, in the SHU Student Handbook, the only mentions of skateboarding are the repercussions for not complying with the regulations of the buildings. Nowhere in the handbook does it explicitly address skateboarding around campus.
Fell and Velloza said the last way that skateboarding could gain even more popularity on campus would be if Seton Hall came out with skateboard apparel.
Both suggested that adding Seton Hall decals for boards would increase the visibility of students that skate and make them feel more comfortable skating on campus.
Caroline Schwartz can be reached at caroline.schwartz@student.shu.edu.
