Residence Life has banned the use and storage of Hoverboards in residence halls after some overcharged machines malfunctioned and caught fire across the country.
The product was a popular gift this past holiday season, and Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Aaron Macke said he’s seen an increase of the two-wheeled scooters on campus. Once major U.S. marketers stopped selling hoverboards in February, the problems simply grew.
“It looks like more and more plants overseas have popped up creating these things. And there’s more different kinds of products and there’s even less regulation on the products that are coming in,” Macke said. “So it looks like it has even gotten a little bit worse potentially.”
Sophomore Clara Lenhart echoed Macke’s thoughts. Lenhart owned a hoverboard equipped with bluetooth speakers until her parents disassembled it after hearing the safety concerns.
“My dad was like, ‘I just got a letter…(that) said that these are dangerous,” Lenhard said. “So my dad ended up trying to take out the battery, and he completely destroyed the whole thing, so he just threw it away.”
Even though she is aware of the safety concerns, Lenhart would buy another hoverboard.
“If I could do it all again, I probably would,” Lenhart said. “It helped me get to class a lot faster… I live on South Campus, so it’s a lot easier to get up to North Campus.”
Sophomore Matt Christianson agrees with Residence Life’s decision to ban the boards. His concern is less about safety and more about the university’s image.
“Seeing kids riding those things to and from class makes us look bad,” Christianson said. “It feeds into people’s view of St. Thomas as spoiled rich kids who can’t even walk to class.”
Macke said he is focused on the safety of his residents. With the arrival of warmer weather, the boards are appearing on campus once again.
“We decided we needed to make the decision; we couldn’t wait for them to fix the issue,” Macke said. “The risk is just too great.”
Macke believes that one day, when the product becomes more regulated, Hoverboards would again be allowed in the halls if they met a certain standard of safety.
Adam Kraft can be reached at adam.kraft@stthomas.edu.