Hopefully relating my experience in starting a college parkour club here will divulge some information that will help anyone finding themselves in the same situation I did! So here goes.
It was a pretty chilly night at
McDaniel College when I first learned about parkour. After some discussion with
Baram Shin Disciple, I found and watched my first video numerous times over, and we went out that night. My first time out doing parkour also happened to coincide with our first "encounter" with McDaniel Campus Safety. The two CS Officers approached us and asked us what we were doing, at the time we were training around some rails. We told them just messing around, having some fun, and they kindly asked us to "discontinue" what we were doing, and to definitely keep it off the rickety rails.
[You can see these very rails in my solo run in Dispersion where I do the underbar, and also the monkey to underbar, for anyone interested 
] They left, and we continued to train around the campus, being more discreet and acting inconspicuous when we saw anybody coming.
Training continued on the campus, some nights we didn't run into anybody, some nights we did. Moreso than often the latter happened and we were again asked to "discontinue." It eventually got to the point where Disciple and I were fed up and decided to do something about it. I began formulating a letter which I planned to give to the Director of Campus Safety and posted it up back in the day on the UF forums. With tons of helpful input from Disciple and many others on the forums, it came out something like this. This is still in the form I actually handed it in as, there are TONS of edits I would make now. So get your kicks out of this blast from the past:
To (INSERT NAME / COMPANY),
We are a small group of people who practice 'Le Parkour', also referred to as 'the art of movement', or 'Free Running'. We are all very passionate about the discipline, and it is because of our passion for Le Parkour, and our want for our art to not be obstructed that we are writing this letter to you.
Le Parkour is the art of movement; basic movements such as running, leaping, climbing, vaulting, and dropping are just the tip of the Parkour iceberg. This movement is created via the use of objects, for example walls, rails and platforms to name just a few. We use many of the objects which most people think of as obstacles which prevent free movement, only we see them as a medium that can be used to create, rather than restrict, our movement. We adapt to our environment and landscape in search of the perfect flowing movement.
We realize that when you think of us performing Parkour you probably have a couple of main concerns and objections :
A] That we are going to be destroying property and causing a ruckus.
B] That we will injure ourselves and place blame on (INSERT NAME / COMPANY).
C] That we are just jumping around foolishly with no purpose.
Allow me to rebute and dislodge these misconceptions.
A] We have no desire to destroy or vandalize the very objects which we need in order to create our movement and perform our art. Most people will see a wall as a containment feature, we see it as something which we use to create movement. Some passerby may tell us not to jump on that wall, and yet we have much more respect for this wall than they do.
B] As is with every sports discipline, and in day-to-day life, injuries occasionally do happen. We do not wish to sustain injury because of a foolish mistake. Which is why we are very careful and selective with the moves which we do. Every start position, move execution, and landing areas are analyzed carefully and made sure to be safe and sturdy. And if we do injure ourselves, we accept total responsibility for our actions. We have no desire to create trouble with the very people who have created the objects we use for our art of movement.
C] We are more intelligent than to leap and run around foolishly. Each move we do is carefully calculated prior to performing it. Our purpose is to get experience in the art of Le Parkour, as well as obtain physical fitness. This is our artform, not purposeful rebellion.
It is our wish to not be prevented and held back from practicing Le Parkour and it is our wish that you stop for a minute, observe us, and realize that we are not troublemakers, and do not wish to be seen or treated in that way. We hope by reading this letter that you will understand this.
Thank you for your time.
The letter was was printed in this form, and Disciple and I marched down to the Campus Safety office and went in to see the Director. We explained to him briefly why we were there, let him read the letter, and supplemented it by telling him that if it was a liability issue, we were more than willing to sign some sort of waivers. He said that wasn't necessary, that he would inform all the CS Officers about us, and if we hurt ourselves that they would whisk us away to the hospital.
[And they did, once. *cough*Disciple*cough* I whisked him away to the hospital the other time 
] I think it was also in that meeting the idea of us starting an official College Club would also be beneficial. Or maybe we went there to clear it so that we could start an official College Club? Maybe Disciple remembers and will chime in, as well if I'm leaving anything out!
So that was that, campus safety let us be and we had many great training sessions and jams at the McDaniel campus: hassle-free!
Just keep a couple things in mind-The CS Officers on your campus may not be as nice as they were here for the most part, same for the CS Director.
-Despite this, as long as you remain polite and simply explain to them what it is you're doing it usually will go well.
-As you can see in the letter, don't wait for them to ask you the questions they're thinking off but won't ask. Go ahead and tell them that you won't be out there breaking anything, that you're willing to sign a waiver, whatever.
-Try to make it an official College Club, it will help with most everything.
I might edit in more, even post up a newly edited version of the letter [feel free to post your own edits]. For now, I hope this helps!
