The Department of Housing and Residence Life is prohibiting the storage and use of hoverboards and similar self-balancing scooters in residential rooms as well as in any interior area of a housing building.
This policy change was announced in an official email from Director of Housing Robert Boyle on Thursday. Boyle wrote that this revision in the current Resident Handbook came about due to the recent fire safety concerns surrounding hoverboards.
TheResidential Handbook states that improperly stored hoverboards will be removed at the owner’s expense. Similarly to bicycles and skateboards, hoverboards are also not allowed in areas that would impede traffic flow, such as courtyards or exits and entrances of residential halls.
There have been several incidents where the batteries of hoverboards have caught on fire while charging, including one that ended up destroying a house in Melbourne a few days ago.
The list of colleges that prohibit hoverboards and other self-balanced scooters is growing. Florida State University started banning hoverboards from residence halls this winter break.
FSU’s Director of Health and Safety Tom Jacobson said the university is in the process of expanding the ban to all university buildings.
As for UNF, Health and Safety Director Dan Endicott confirmed that his department has no plans to implement a campus-wide ban. For now, the ban only applies to housing buildings.
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