There is a small group of people at Tarleton State University who are looking to get a different view of campus.

The three students – sophomore geology major Mark Schattenberg, freshman history education major Evan Piland, and freshman business marketing major Graham Laird – enjoy hammocking and slack lining in various places across campus.

The hammockers have experienced both normal and more extreme heights, and have much to say about each.

When asked why he participates in this kind of activity, Schattenberg said, “I just always liked pushing the limits, but it’s more so because it’s like radical relaxing.”

The three students use Eno Hammocks, which hold up to 400 pounds of weight.

At various times while hammocking on campus, each of the three students have been reprimanded for their activities, at one point even spoken to by campus police. They were later informed that there are no official regulations against hammocking on campus, although they were asked to refrain from slack lining until Tarleton could write up the necessary paperwork.

“The officer told me that he was called in to talk to me by his supervisor,” Schattenberg said. “They’re telling me that it [slack lining] is considered a sport, therefore you have to get liability waivers and they’re going to have a meeting about it.”

According to Tarleton Police Officer Joseph ‘J. C.’ Killingsworth, however, the issue is a simple matter.

“What he’s doing is considered a sport, so they [Tarleton] just want to make sure they get the proper paperwork for him to continue,” Killingsworth said.

In regard to hammocking, Schattenberg was confronted by a police officer after he was discovered hammocking between the flag poles in front of the administration building.

“He’d been hammocking for weeks and there wasn’t any issue,” Killingsworth explained. “He wasn’t questioned until he set up on the flag poles, but other than that there haven’t been any issues with it. There are veterans who get offended by someone hammocking on the flag poles.”

Students around campus have also shown an interest in the hammockers.

“I’ve learned a lot of people don’t look up,” said Piland. “When we hang closer to the ground, we sometimes get a few questions here and there, but not much.”

“I haven’t seen them around campus,” said junior business administration major Abigail Elevier, “but I think it’s cool they’ve found a new way to experience Tarleton. If I was walking around campus and saw them, I’d probably smile and then go back to whatever I was doing.”

The students have created a Facebook page named Tarleton Outdoor High Adventure as part of the process of starting an organization on campus. They have over twenty followers, and have already begun broadcasting information about camping and climbing events.

When asked about the kinds of rules and regulations that might be implemented if an official organization is started, Schattenberg said that there wouldn’t be a way to control whether people hammocked or not, but that he “wouldn’t be fond of someone without a harness going up farther than 10 feet.”

So far, the three hammockers have stayed at around the 15-20 ft. range, but in the near future, they’re looking to go higher.

With this in mind, it might be time for students to start looking up to see just what, or who, is hanging out above them.