By Bruce Tran
DAILY BRUIN REPORTER
btran@media.ucla.edu
 ANGIE LEVINE/Daily Bruin Staff
Luciano Rodriguez, a skateboarding student from Don Bosco
Tech.
Some consider it to be a convenience, while others call it a
nuisance. But both sides agree that it’s a contradiction in
UCLA policy:
While skateboards have been deemed illegal on campus, you can
buy one at the Copeland Sporting Goods store in Ackerman Union.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Dan Fulford, a
psychology student who has been skateboarding for 16 years.
“They’ll give you a ticket for standing on the
skateboard you just bought a few minutes ago at Copeland.
It’s such a big contradiction.”
Skateboarders are calling for UCLA to follow Copeland Store
sales policy by allowing skateboarders to skate legally on some
areas of campus. Other students want UCLA to eliminate the
contradiction by banning the sale of skateboards at Copeland.
Copeland has responded by posting a sign that acknowledges it is
illegal to skateboard on campus, requesting buyers to “please
respect campus policies.”
Copeland Store Director Greg Byrne declined to comment on the
issue.
Director of UCLA Store Keith Shane, on the other hand,
doesn’t believe an issue even exists.
“I haven’t heard anything from the UCLA
administration or UCPD, so it hasn’t been a problem,”
Shane said. “Until we do hear something or have a problem,
our hands are tied.”
Part of the reason is because Copeland is lease-operated, and is
the first store of its kind to work in Ackerman Union. As a result,
Copeland handles its own merchandising and UCLA Store is reluctant
to become too involved with what Copeland sells.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t help students like fourth-year
history student Sam Woon, who was given a ticket for skateboarding
on campus with his newly bought skateboard from Copeland.
“It sucks because I had just paid fifty bucks at Copeland
and the police confiscated it,” Woon said. “I
didn’t know about it being illegal to board here, and I
didn’t see the sign inside Copeland either. Why in the world
would UCLA sell something that is illegal to use?”
The skateboarders want UCLA to meet them halfway. Under current
UCLA policy, it’s difficult to find any place on campus that
is legal to skateboard.
“I don’t see why it’s illegal to bike and
rollerblade on campus, but they have bike racks and rollerblading
classes at the Wooden Center,” said third-year undeclared
student Nathan Waxer.
“UCLA is willing to accommodate them, but not the
skateboarders. It seems to me that UCLA is doing negative profiling
against skateboarders.”
At the other end of the spectrum, some students believe
skateboarders should be taken off the sales rack at Copeland.
“It’s a danger to us as students to have
skateboarders just going as they please on campus,” incoming
freshman Martha Hodges said. “What kind of message does it
send for the UCLA Store to sell skateboards? The responsibility is
on Copeland and UCLA to correct this hypocrisy.”
At this point however, it doesn’t seem like Copeland or
UCLA will change its policy.
“It was an issue addressed when Copeland first came on
campus,” Shane said. “The sign explains everything. At
that time, it was determined it was okay to allow Copeland to sell
skateboards.”
For Fulford, the sign is of little comfort.
“It’s great that Copeland sells skateboards, but
UCLA is the one who is putting the contradiction out there,”
Fulford said. “But no matter what, people are just going to
skateboard whenever they want and wherever they want.”