On January 18, Ingrid Perez (junior-music theatre) lit a candle. The friend who gave it to her had called and suggested that she light it for a moment to see how it looked while it was burning.

Most people wouldn't have thought anything of it. But Perez has been thinking about it a lot recently.

A resident assistant, she was on duty that night on the fourth floor of Bigler Hall in East Halls. Her supervisor walked in while the candle was lit — a violation of the dorm fire safety policy. That began a series of events that ended with Perez losing both her job and her place to live.

"You're only allowed to have appliances in terms of beautification — hair dryers and things," said Shannell Thomas, a coordinator for the Office of Residence Life. "Candles and halogen lamps are not acceptable."

The policy, modified at the beginning of Fall Semester, bans having any candles in the dorms, even if none are ever burned. The new rule allows residents to keep only candles without wicks.

"I thought, 'Let me light this quickly, just to see what it looks like,' " Perez said. "Then I heard a knock on the door."

Perez said it wasn't normal for her supervisor to be making rounds. However, she walked in that night and saw the candle.

"I think she tried to make light of it," Perez said. "She was like, 'That's not a candle, is it?' and I was like, 'No! Of course not!' "

If a student is caught with a banned appliance or candle, he or she is referred to Residence Life and placed under contract review.

"Contract review is like probation," Thomas said. "It's to make sure that they don't do it again."

If a student were to be a repeat offender, he or she would be asked to move out of the residence halls. However, the details of every case are reviewed and the cases are decided at the discretion of the Office of Residence Life.

"I understand that they would treat me differently than a normal resident," said Perez. "I'm not asking for only a slap on the wrist, but I had so much to lose here."

Perez's case was brought before Judicial Affairs. She had to wait for a few weeks before hearing any sort of response, but when she did, it wasn't favorable and she lost her position as an RA.

"They said that I would have a chance to appeal," Perez said. She prepared a presentation, creating graphs that detailed how much losing her position would hurt, and presented her case the Tuesday before spring break.

Perez learned the final decision after she returned.

"It's a ridiculous situation," said Elizabeth Medina (freshman-business administration), who lived on Perez's floor. "I know people who have been doing worse stuff. Her work here was so wonderful. I'm so upset about this."

Residence Life staff in East Halls declined to comment on Perez's situation, saying they couldn't discuss individual cases.

Students on Perez's floor have organized a petition in an attempt to get her job reinstated, but Perez has already moved out. Left without housing options, she is living on a friend's couch while her belongings are in someone else's basement.

The idea that the situation might be racist had not occurred to most students living on the floor, but when the issue was raised at a meeting, some began to wonder.

"We had a floor meeting, and someone mentioned the idea that it might be racist," said Kimberly Blasius (freshman-engineering). "That's when I started thinking about it."

That instance seems to be what raised the issue for most students on the floor.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure," said Nicole Thompson (freshman-engineering). "But I think there's a possibility. When you compare what she did to what others have done, it doesn't seem that her punishment was fair."

Others agreed.

"I'm not really sure what to think about the idea of racism," Diana Singh (freshman-division of undergraduate studies). "It's seems possible, but I'm just not sure."

However, some students had more definite ideas.

"I think that it was a racist issue," Medina said. "We're both Latina, and we have a lot of disadvantages on this campus."

Because of the severity of the punishment, the thought had occurred to Perez as well.

"I really didn't want to believe that it's a race issue," Perez said. "But now I'm starting to wonder."

Residence Life officials were not available to comment on the question of racism.

Students said that they had always been happy with Perez's performance as an RA.

"She was a great RA — she definitely did her job," Singh said.

Other students thought so, too.

"I feel like she enforced the rules the way that they were supposed to be enforced," Medina said. "She is doing and has done her job."

Perez could hardly believe that the situation had evolved into what it did.

"I didn't mean for it to blow up like this," said Perez. "I don't think it's justified."