N.C. campuses banning hoverboards because of safety risk

When students returned for the start of the semester at Queens University of Charlotte this week, those who brought hoverboards had to return them home or drop them off with campus police.

On Monday, Queens banned the self-balancing scooters from its campus, including all residence halls, spokeswoman Lisa Noakes said. “The potential for fire and spontaneous combustion is too serious,” Noakes, the Queens spokeswoman, said.

Queens joined many other colleges and universities across North Carolina and in other states that have banned hoverboards because of fire concerns with their lithium-ion batteries. The scooters also aren’t allowed in residence halls at Campbell, Duke, East Carolina, Meredith, N.C. Central, St. Augustine’s, UNC-Chapel Hill and William Peace University, among others.

This week, N.C. State University prohibited them from outdoor areas of campus, as well as buildings.

East Carolina extended the ban to university buses, too. Any devices found will be confiscated and sent home at the owner’s expense, ECU said in a notice to students.

Back in Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith University is “carefully weighing” the safety concerns but hasn’t banned the devices, said Cathy Hurd, dean of enrollment management and student engagement.

“Students are currently allowed to use them in outdoor areas such as university-owned streets, sidewalks and walkways,” Hurd said. “But their use is discouraged inside university buildings, and owners should seriously consider whether to bring them to campus at all.”

In mid-December, UNC Charlotte asked students to remove from residential and other campus buildings any hoverboards and charging equipment that lacked a UL mark showing it meets UL-approved standards and certification.

UNCC’s Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs office is reviewing its policy on storage, use and charging of hoverboards, UNCC spokeswoman Buffie Stephens said.

In a letter to the Queens campus, Dean of Students John Downey wrote that while university officials “do admit that (hoverboards) are very fun, recent news of them catching on fire spontaneously raises concern for your safety.”

Queens, he said, “has temporarily prohibited the use, possession, storage and/or charging of electronic skateboards from all university buildings and grounds. This includes self-balancing boards and/or hoverboards.” The ban also includes all university residence halls and apartments, Downey said.

Downey told students that if they are unable to return the devices home immediately, they need to remove the battery and take the board and battery to Campus Police for safe storage.

Devices found in residence halls and apartments will be removed and the user-owner will face disciplinary charges, Downey wrote. “We hate to do so, but student safety is always our highest priority,” he said.

Downey included a link to a safety notice about the devices from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission is investigating hoverboard-related fires across the country, as well as falls off the boards that caused serious injuries, commission Chairman Elliott Kaye said in the notice.

At N.C. State, some members of the men’s basketball team – including star point guard Cat Barber – have been seen riding hoverboards on campus. But Barber said he understands the need for the campuswide ban. “It’s just a little toy,” he said. “It’s not worth getting hurt.”

The bans at the Triangle universities don’t extend to private, off-campus apartment complexes, but several institutions are looking to formulate a broader campus policy governing hoverboards.

Campus prohibitions on hoverboards follow similar bans by many airlines, including the largest U.S. carriers.

In December, American Airlines, the dominant carrier at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, announced bans on hoverboards and similar devices as carry-on and checked baggage. So did Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines. JetBlue Airways had already prohibited them.

Jane Stancill and Joe Giglio of The (Raleigh) News & Observer contributed.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "N.C. campuses banning hoverboards because of safety risk."