Recently, I had a male resident adviser come up to my room at 11 p.m. to tell me that the lamp I had on was not allowed in the dorm rooms. He gave me the options of either giving him the whole lamp or the lampshades. According to a flier that was posted by the elevators, the lampshades were a fire hazard. I had only seen it once and from what I understood, it was a hazard because people installed it the wrong way or used the wrong light bulb.

I consider myself to be a very responsible person and made sure that I used the right light bulbs and double-checked to make sure that everything was assembled properly. The lampshades were hazardous because they melted when they got too hot. You would think that they would ask you to remove the light bulbs since they do cause heat.

When the RA removed the lampshades, he then put the light bulbs back in. This is where I began to become irritated. These light bulbs were put back into the lamp and left beside the cheap plastic blinds that are provided by the dorm. The blinds are one of the leading causes of fire starters and for fire to spread very quickly. I would know because I lost my home to a fire and the blinds were the first things to go. So, I sat there looking at what this RA had left and the thought that kept going through my head was, “He came up here to get rid of a fire hazard and ended up leaving an even greater one.” I know that I could have said something to him or taken the bulbs out myself, but it just baffled me that he left the room with the light bulbs still in and turned on in the lamp.

Something else was brought to my attention. A friend and I were looking at UK’s residence halls to see which one we would want to be in next year. We clicked on Baldwin Hall and wanted to see what the rooms looked like. She clicked on the picture and what I saw in it made my blood simmer. In the picture was the exact lamp that I had in my room. Later that day, I went online and looked at what was not allowed in the dorms and it said nothing about the type of lamp that I had.

I know fire marshals have codes and they make sure we are safely using everything in our rooms. But the fact is, if the lamp is such a bad thing, maybe UK needs to A) take it out of the pictures of residence halls, B) list it under the things not to have in your dorm room and C) have the RAs who enforce the rules know the facts and what are also fire hazards besides the initial taking off of the lampshades. It’s sad to me that I knew more about fire hazards than the RA who came up. It would have been safer to leave the shades on than to have 5 bald light bulbs left on next to flimsy blinds.

Mia Upton

agricultural education freshman