Last Tuesday, The Daily Aztec printed an article titled “Bans spark fervor on campus,” which San Diego State officials have claimed was inaccurate because the policy has been in effect for a long time.

“The policy of no skateboarding on campus has been a long-standing provision, not something new,” SDSU Senate Chair William B. Snavely said. “SDSU Police Code Section 100.02 subsection D states, ‘riding skateboards is prohibited on all university property at all times.’”

However, there have been periods when the policy was not enforced.

There is a vast amount of conflicting information from several organizations which suggest skateboarding has in fact been allowed for certain periods, lasting as long as one year despite still being banned. There have been votes in the senate on the ban as well. One such period when skateboarding was allowed at SDSU occurred from April 2010 through April 2011.

“In April 2010, prior to the temporary bike lane installation, Associated Students proposed to the university senate to change a policy in the Parking and Traffic policy file regarding bikes, skateboards and other similar personal wheeled conveyances,” A.S. Vice President of External Affairs Krista Parker said. “Once the trial period came to an end, about a year, the level of skateboard usage outside of designated areas on campus had drastically increased and their use was not in only operated designated locations.”

The “trial period,” according to both Snavely and Parker, was not an officially recognized period during which skateboarding was allowed, but many students were made aware of the shift in enforcement. When this ended and enforcement of the policy resumed, students found out the hard way.

“I found out from one of my friends, who took summer school and was stopped by a cop, and told that they would be cracking down on it this year,” Nadir Zriouel said. “And that was confirmed to me during a Sig Ep meeting.”

Zriouel, a student who took it upon himself to plan a peaceful protest which is scheduled to occur next month, said that he feels the university will change the current policy if enough students voice their opinions.

“I think it was a trial run to assist A.S., to see what would happen (if skateboarding was allowed in the bike lane),” Snavely said.

The university senate’s agenda from April 5 of this year said the committee approved a resolution to amend the senate’s policy “to exclude skateboards from use of the bicycle lanes on campus and other areas permitting bicycle operation.”

Although the committee brought the revision to the senate, it did not pass.

“The university senate defeated the motion to change the regulation, which included the ban,” Snavely said.

What this means for students is skateboarding is, and has been, illegal at SDSU for many years now, but it was allowed nonetheless from April 2010 to April 2011. So, until a vote to repeal this ban passes the university senate, students will continue to receive fines of $180 when caught skating on campus.