Two fires started in Rosenthal Quad last month have led administrators to prohibit the posting of fliers and posters in all residence halls. Both fires were set to items posted on the wall.Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer announced the ban in an e-mail to the community April 12. It will last until the end of the semester. Similar incidents resulted in a similar ban in 2004.

"There is absolutely, positively nothing I can think of for a dean of students on any campus to have to deal with worse than a fire in a residence hall," he said. "Hundreds of lives are at risk, and we have to do whatever we can to prevent [these incidents]."

Both incidents occurred in Rosenthal South, Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said

The first fire occurred April 7, and Rosenthal Quad Director Rusmir Music found burnt fliers after the alarm sounded. The second fire occurred April 12, when posters were found burned in the building's lobby.

"Obviously, this is a serious concern that the University doesn't take lightly," Callahan said.

Sawyer said that while the ban is frustrating, the University cannot "entertain pranksters" by tolerating fires.

A similar ban on ignitable objects in residence halls was enacted in April 2004 after a trash can was set ablaze in North Quad's Cable Hall.

"Hopefully the people who are responsible for this are feeling the frustration also, and maybe it won't happen again," Sawyer said.

Sawyer also said he received many e-mails from concerned students.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Maggie Balch said she is not sure if students understand the severity of the incidents.

"I've been at places where we've had residence halls that have caught on fire and where we've had to worry about students' lives in danger," Balch said. "There is nothing about that that is funny."

Balch said students have approached her with concerns about fire safety in their halls while others wanted to know how they could continue to publicize their events without posting fliers in the buildings.

Sawyer said there are not many campus events left to publicize this year, and Residence Life staff usually begins to remove flyers at this point in the semester.

"It's the end of the year, and we have no intentions of going into the fall with this in place," he said.