With the 2015 fall semester wrapped up and students back at home during the winter holiday break, the University of Hartford sent out notices via email of the prohibition of hoverboards on campus properties.
On Jan. 12, just one week before the start of the 2016 spring semester, University of Hartford Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Lee Peters sent an email to students stating that they “have decided to prohibit the use, storage, and charging of hoverboards on all University of Hartford campus properties.”
The ban comes as a precautionary safety risk due to the many incidents of hoverboards spontaneously catching on fire.
“You may have been following the news and seen that these devices’ batteries can burst into flame while in use and/or especially while being charged — resulting in a metal fire that can burn with intense heat,” Peters wrote in the statement.
Hoverboards — or perhaps better termed as “mini segways” — are self-balancing electric scooters and were initially only banned from residential buildings, as noted in an email sent out to students on Dec. 23, 2015 by associate director of Residential Life Shawn McQuillan.
Assistant vice president for Residential Life Michael Malone said that a big concern was especially because the Village Apartments, Regents Park and Park River are largely wood structures.
“We were disappointed because frankly, we thought they were pretty cool, and we look forward to seeing them go around campus,” Malone said. “We hate to take things away from students.”
The conversation then shifted to between Peters and the Department of Public Safety, as concerns grew to include the libraries, the Gengras Student Union and other campus buildings. After the holiday break, it was decided that they would be banned from campus.
However, both Peters and Malone wanted to emphasize that this is just a temporary ban until the technology in hoverboards is improved.
News reports and videos began surfacing in Oct. 2015 of hoverboards that caught on fire while charging, while in use or while on standby.
Most of the blame has gone toward the lithium-ion batteries that are used to power many of the hoverboard products, but a statement sent out by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Comission (CPSC) on Jan. 20 said that they are still undergoing investigations to find the root causes of the many hoverboard fires that have occurred throughout the country.
Most electrical products have to be tested and certified by UL LLC, an American worldwide safety consulting and certification company. Products that have been certified will appear with the UL quality mark placed somewhere on it.While the battery packs and power supplies for hoverboards may be UL certified, hoverboards themselves have yet to earn UL certification.
In the meantime, online retail giant Amazon.com has removed most hoverboard brands from their virtual shelves and is now offering refunds to any customers who have bought a hoverboard from their website.
In addition to all major U.S. airlines banning hoverboards, over 30 colleges and universities across the country have banned the use of hoverboards on their respective campuses.
Other Connecticut colleges that have banned hoverboards include the University of Connecticut, Quinnipiac University, the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven among others.