February 2, 2016

By Emily Lapinski

On Jan. 11, John Tsouchlos, manager of public safety, sent out an email to faculty, staff and students regarding the university’s policy for hover boards and drones.

The email specified examples of these different appliances and made it clear that their use is banned on campus.

Hover boards were said to include self-balancing scooters, hands free segways and electric powered skateboards.

Drones can be identified as unmanned aerial vehicles, similar to remote controlled model airplanes, many with camera/video capabilities.

The decision to ban these appliances was made by members of Pubic Safety as well as many other departments on campus including upper administration.

“University Risk Manager Carol Seley and I became aware of safety concerns about these products and brought it to the attention of the administration,” said Tsouchlos. “There was a lot of attention in the media about incidents across the country, some including injuries. There was a lot of discussion among higher education professionals that students would most likely receive these products as holiday gifts and perhaps bring them on campus after break. In order to get ahead of that, with input from many departments such as the Dean of Students office and Residence Life, the university decided to place a ban on both hover boards and drones.”

There is a possibility that the policy may be altered for research or marketing opportunities.

“That would be decided on a case-by-case basis for university related business such as research or marketing with the approval of the Senior V. P. of Finance and Administration,” said Tsouchlos.

lapiemil@my.dom.edu