By Will Wright

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An online petition critizing UK for forcing resident advisors to live with other RAs garnered nearly 500 signatures since its creation in July.

The decision to have RAs room with each other ­— some will live with students until the student can be relocated — came after UK had more housing applications than it had rooms. There will be 140 RAs living with either another RA or a student.

A UK spokesperson said it’s unclear whether this will happen again next year, but that the number of beds on campus will only increase.

RAs will typically not share the same bedroom this fall, but will stay in a suite with another RA and share a common area. The university will pay each RA $500 for every semester they must share a dorm.

Michael Carlton, an RA who started the petition, said in July that many RAs feel like they’ve been lied to about their living circumstances. RAs were told they would get their own dorm, Carlton said. Some RAs even quit after finding out about the decision.

“If they had told us when we applied in the spring… that this was going to happen, it definitely would have changed who applied (to be an RA),” Carlton said. “It really hinders our ability to do our job well. It makes an already emotionally-draining job more emotionally-draining.”

However, with students moving in and RAs getting settled in their new rooms, things aren’t as bad as expected, Carlton said. Having separate bedrooms makes it easier than last year, when some RAs lived in the same room as students.

“Last year, they were like right next to us, breathing on top of us in the single rooms,” Carlton said.

UK spokesman Jay Blanton said the university has a policy to not deny housing for any student who wants to live on campus. RAs living together is a result of that policy, Blanton said.

The petition says UK should pay for additional temporary housing to board the overflow of students, “or simply reject applications.”

Carlton said RAs were also upset because they were not directly contacted by UK for input before the administration decided to make them room together.

“We’re not really upset at ResLife,” Carlton said. “We’re upset at the people above.”

Tony Ralph, director of Residence Life, said he supports UK’s decision.

“In particular, we support the fundamental principle of the university that we want all students, particularly first-year students, to be able to live on campus,” Ralph said. “This is Residence Life’s mission, after all.”

The Kirwan-Blanding towers, which will stand empty this coming fall, will not be used to accommodate this overflow because of maintenance and quality issues. The lowrises surrounding the towers also have one foot in the grave. All but two of the eight dorms will be put out of commission during the 2016-17 school year.