The University of Dayton implemented its policy Friday and announced it to students, faculty and staff today.
“Hoverboards, or similar self-balancing, battery-powered vehicles, are banned from all campus buildings because of fire safety concerns raised by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Fire Protection Association,” according to the policy released by the university.
Sinclair Community College also implemented a similar policy for its campus.
INITIAL REPORT (Jan. 12):
Miami University students can no longer count on a hoverboard to get them to class more quickly.
The university has banned the personal scooters on all of its campuses after reports that some had caught fire, according to spokeswoman Claire Wagner.
“We started getting reports of them (hoverboards) combusting while charging,” Wagner told this news outlet Tuesday.
“It’s clearly a safety hazard,” she said.
The self-balancing, two-wheeled, personal scooters, which also go by the names of Swagways, IO Hawks and Skywalkers, are growing in popularity nationwide, especially among teens and young adults despite growing reports of them catching on fire.
The hoverboards are battery operated and require electrical charging to operate.
“Recent events have demonstrated that some batteries and chargers for self-balancing personal scooters, popularly called hoverboards, can be prone to explosion, creating a substantial safety and fire risk,” read an email sent to the university’s 16,000 students and their families Tuesday.
Students have been asked to not bring the devices to campus. Those who already have a hoverboard are asked to call the Miami University Police Department at 513-529-2222 for assistance in storing it.
“We will be appointing a committee of faculty, staff and students to work on a University policy for the use of hoverboards and similar devices so that we are ready to implement it once appropriate safety standards are in place,” the email read.
Besides Miami University, there are a few other Ohio schools that have banned hoverboards.
• Shawnee State
• Ohio University
• Ohio State University
• Bowling Green State University
• Xavier University
• University of Akron
• University of Cincinnati
• Notre Dame College
• Case Western Reserve University
Kent State University will allow hoverboards under the same policy that governs skateboards, said spokesman Eric Mansfield.
Cleveland State University has no policy but is looking at the issue, a spokesman said. CSU prohibits roller skates, roller blades and skateboards on campus sidewalks and walkways.
John Carroll University is developing a hoverboard policy that will be sent to students before they return to campus, a spokeswoman said. Baldwin Wallace University and Ursuline College are also developing policies.
Hiram College, Oberlin College and Lorain County Community College currently have no policies regarding hoverboards. Lakeland Community College’s new policy does not allow students to bring a hoverboard into any building.
Blattner, director of housing and residential education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said hoverboards are prohibited on his campus.
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