Colleges tell students to leave their hoverboards at home

BOSTON (AP) — One of the holiday’s hottest presents is now considered contraband at many U.S. colleges.

More than 30 universities have banned or restricted hoverboards on their campuses in recent weeks, saying the two-wheeled, motorized scooters are unsafe. Beyond the risk of falls and collisions, colleges are citing warnings from federal authorities that some of the self-balancing gadgets have caught on fire.

“It’s clear that these things are potentially dangerous,” said Len Dolan, managing director of fire safety at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. The public school of 14,000 students issued a campus-wide ban effective on Monday, telling students in an email that any hoverboards found on campus would be confiscated.

“These things are just catching fire without warning, and we don’t want that in any of our dorms,” Dolan said.

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