The former residents and alumni of Jewell Hall feel that a vital part of our past will soon be consigned to our memories and faded pictures taken with film cameras.

Perhaps this, more than anything else, will slowly signal that we are getting old. I was privileged to have resided at Jewell for two years, from 1995-97.

As an economics graduate I can certainly appreciate, if not understand, the decision faced by those tasked with moving UK forward for the next generation of students.

Yet somehow I feel the new buildings of North Campus will never be able to match our experiences. In our time, Jewell was known as the international student dorm where Americans and foreign students live side-by-side.

The hope was we would embrace our differences and leave with a better understanding of the world. I can say now that this experiment was an overwhelming success.

I am a British Pakistani who grew up in the Middle East. At Jewell I met an Israeli student for the first time, with who I shared a passion for basketball and chess.

I learned about his point of view on Israeli-Arab relationships. I also met a wonderful woman who would one day travel to Pakistan for my wedding with other American students from UK. Jewell Hall was where an Indian and a Pakistani could sit down and enjoy watching cricket.

The lobby was where we spent countless hours while coming together as a family to share the ups and downs of life. Visiting campus will be devoid of excitement for reliving the past or sharing with our children the places where we too were endowed with the gift of youth.

But our hope is that UK will rekindle the spirit of Jewell Hall in a new residence hall, which will add to its tradition of academic excellence and eternal dominance in basketball.

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