Before any of you head back to campus with your shiny new hoverboards, you may want to make sure that your college or univeristy hasn’t banned them.
In recent weeks, at least 20 colleges and universities have banned the use of hoverboards on campus due to safety concerns, according to the Associated Press. For those of you who are familiar with the video of Mike Tyson’s epic hoverboard fail that went viral in a matter of hours last week, you may understand why this is such a big issue. But, beyond that matter, campus officials are also warning of issues regarding some of the gadgets catching on fire while charging, which could turn out to be problematic for any students living in residence halls.
“It’s clear that these things are potentially dangerous,” Len Dolan, managing director of fire safety at Kean University in Union, N.J., told the AP. “These things are just catching fire without warning, and we don’t want any of that in our dorms.”
Kean is one of the many schools that has issued a campus-wide ban on hoverboards, effective on Monday. According to school officials, any hoverboards found on campus are to be confiscated. Other universities that have joined the list of hoverboards are Emerson College in Boston, Mass., George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and, as of this morning, Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga.
The introduction of hoverboards was definitely a highlight of 2015, with several brands beginning to produce them and many celebrities endorsing them via social media.
“This is one of those gifts that went viral,” Allan Blattner, president of the executive board of the Association of College & University Housing Officers-International told Cleveland.com. “They were nowhere and now they’re everywhere. Because of safety concerns, a lot of residential programs, at least temporarily, have banned them until the final safety outcome.”
On top of the fact that hoverboards have now been banned from New York City streets, several airlines have also banned the devices, fearing potential fire because of the lithium-ion batteries that are used to power them.
If you’re in mourning over the thought that you may never ride a hoverboard through the halls of your dorm, don’t be—Several schools have stated that the hoverboard bans are temporary and are only in place until the manufacturers can develop and implement safety standards.