You go off to school, moving away from your parents, homes and more importantly your household rules. College is the time most students establish their independence and do things they were at one time forbidden to do.

One of these things is body art, more specifically tattoos and body piercings.

“Tattooing and Body Piercing: Body Art Practices Among College Students,” a study done by Judith Griefand Walter Hewitt of Rutgers University Health Service and Myrna L. Armstrong of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, looks at body art among college students at 18 universities across the United States and one university in Australia.

According to the study, 73 percent of those sampled obtained their tattoos between the ages of 18 and 22 and 63 percent got their piercing during that age group.

Although DeKalb municipal code prohibits the practice of tattooing on human beings, students still find ways to get them done. Many students go to surrounding areas where tattooing is not illegal.

“We get a lot of college students here,” said Paul Natale, a tattoo artist at Goldie’s Tattoo & Body Piercing in Rockford.

Steve Kapitan, Third Ward Alderman, said that the city hasn’t had anyone formally approach the city council to change the municipal code regarding the practice of tattooing in a while.

Mayor Greg Sparrow said he, too, was unaware of anyone wanting to bring a tattoo parlor to DeKalb.

Sparrow also said the ordinance was passed by the city council about 10 years ago forbidding tattooing in the city limits. This was passed because someone had proposed a tattoo parlor downtown, but many people were opposed to it.

“I think it was a strong overreaction to putting it downtown,” Sparrow said.

He added that putting a tattoo parlor downtown still will be tough to pass.

The only way tattooing will come to DeKalb is if the city council passes an ordinance allowing one. Sparrow said that would happen only if the parlor is placed in a remote area of DeKalb, not downtown.

“It has to be in a remote area so it requires a conscious decision,” Sparrow said. “If it’s downtown, near the bars, someone could wake up wondering what happened.”

While a tattoo parlor may not be in DeKalb’s immediate future, students still would like to see one here.

“More students would definitely get tattoos if they could get them in DeKalb,” said Michelle Villarreal, a junior finance major who got her tattoo and navel pierced when she turned 18.

Students have many reasons for getting body art.

According to the study done by Grief, Hewitt and Armstrong, self-expression was the No. 1 reason offered by college students for both piercing and tattooing.

“Body piercing and tattoos really are art,” Villarreal said. “They’ll remain popular as long as students think they look good.”

City Editor J.D. Piland contributed to this report.