It seems UK Housing cannot make up its mind.

Housing officials closed Jewell Hall during the Spring 2008 semester, but reopened for the 2008-09 school year. In the fall, Jewell was filled to its 108-person capacity and was closed over Winter Break, forcing students into other dorms, according to a Monday Kernel article.

Now, Jewell will be open for the entire 2009-10 school year because, according to Ben Crutcher, UK’s vice president for Auxiliary Services, it was too inconvenient for everyone, including residents, when Jewell Hall closed over Winter Break last year.

Too inconvenient? That seems to be the last of UK Housing’s concerns. Its lack of decision has caused students to repeatedly move in and out of the residence hall, never knowing if they are there to stay.

Many of these students were international students, according to a December 2008 Kernel article, who must have been less than impressed with their stay at the university.

Even worse than the uncertainty of whether UK Housing will decide to, once again, close Jewell on a lark are the terrible conditions of the dorms. The reason Jewell was closed in the first place was because housing officials said it was falling into a state of disrepair.

An Aug. 28, 2008 Kernel editorial urged UK Housing to plan ahead so that Jewell would not be constantly closing and opening whenever the school ran into a housing emergency. One of the editorial’s recommendations was to build new dorms immediately so UK Housing wouldn’t run into the same problems again.

Clearly, Housing did not heed to this advice.

Now, it must scramble to prepare a dorm that was never meant to house students again. If Jewell is to reopen, major renovations must be made before students can start moving in.

Since UK is planning on demolishing Jewell in the near future, it may be reluctant to spend money on making renovations.  However, UK must not punish students who are forced to live in Jewell for its own poor planning and decision making. Regardless of how long the dorms will stand, if students are going to live there, it must be made livable.

UK Housing must realize that its indecision is showing a lack of sensitivity toward student welfare. It must also come up with a permanent solution for residence halls and stick to that solution. Otherwise, it’s just causing a headache for itself.