Recently Skidmore, as of January 25, followed many other institutions and colleges in banning hoverboards from its campus. Other colleges that have banned or temporarily banned hoverboards include Wellesley College, American University, Brandies University and George Washington University. Students were alerted of this ban in the Semester Updates email from President Phillip Glotzbach, on Wednesday February 10, 15 days after it had been put in place.
Battery operated scooters and hands-free Segways were also banned. Many institutions including airlines, have or are in the process of banning these scooters and hoverboards due to safety concerns about how easily they catch on fire.
These items were banned from campus, “because of recent concerns by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the potential danger these devices may pose to members of the campus community,” reads the official policy banning these items.
The request to ban these items came to the Institutional Policy and Planning Committee (IPPC)- Student Affairs Sub-Committee from the Safety in the Workplace Committee. At the time of the request it was something that the IPPC was already discussing.
The Safety in the Workplace Committee “reviewed current warnings from the CPSC [U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission] as well as NFPA [National Fire Protection Association] and also noted that airlines have banned them for travel, and that many College’s and Universities have made a ban recommendation in light of their propensity to cause explosions and fires, as well as numerous reported accidents for users,” said chair of the committee, Chris Kaczmarek.
“We haven’t seen many on campus but with good weather around the corner we wanted to make sure that the use of hoverboards didn’t become more prevalent across campus as spring approached,” said Interim Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs, Gail Cummings-Danson.
Members of the Skidmore community are asked not to bring these items to campus, but for those that did bring a hoverboard, battery operated scooter or hands-free Segway, Campus Safety will store it safely until one is able to bring it back home. One exception that is brought up in the official policy is for “individuals requiring approved battery operated scooters or other devices to address issues of mobility.” Those in this situation are asked to contact Student Academic Services (SAS) for additional information and direction.