On Sept. 1 at 5:15 p.m., six students from Holy Cross College were injured by a vehicle turning left at the intersection of State Route 933 and Dorr Road. Three of the students were transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend with minor injuries while the other three remained on campus, as reported by ABC57.
Holy Cross College President Marco Clark released a statement that afternoon, saying that first responders quickly took care of the situation and handled all individuals immediately affected, including the victims and the driver. Clark said the College is still gathering information regarding the incident and will continue to provide updates on the matter.
On Friday, Clark further elaborated on the situation via an email to the Holy Cross community regarding the condition of students.
“As several of us sat in the emergency room with our students and have followed up with them and their families since, I am grateful to be able to share they are all improving,” Clark wrote, “I’m also grateful that several of you have reached out to express your concern for these students and offered to support them in any way you can. It has been amazing to me to see the show of support from the Holy Cross community rallying around these students.”
Students said that they heard about the incident first from their friends and later from Clark’s emails. A few discussed their perspective on safety while crossing the major intersection.
Freshman Jordan Nowak shared, “I bike across there and walk across there pretty much daily. It raises questions about safety on that street because it is a highway and there are lots of cars coming at really high speeds. So, I don’t know what changes they are going to have to make, but I feel that it is kind of a liability at this point.”
Freshman Abigail Muccio said that she knew victims of the incident. She believes that the administration handled it appropriately.
“I think they did really well. They were very quick to send out emails to parents and students and also I know that a lot of faculty and the students’ advisors were there at the hospital with them. That made me feel good knowing that they had people there to support them,” Muccio said.
Another student shared her belief that the College needs to further address the issue of campus safety at the intersection.
“I think they probably handled it the best way that they could have. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more of a response to it though, maybe putting some sort of crossing guards out there or changing something with the turn signals … It would be nice to see maybe some sort of bridge or walkway put up above the highway just because it’s not safe for students right now,” freshman Rose Turnwald said. She said that two of her suitemates obtained minor injuries in the incident.
Clark wrote in his email that the College is meeting with local partners to enhance the pedestrian crosswalk for safety and noted previous safety initiatives adopted at the intersection.
“We recently installed additional lighting at the Route 933 intersection leading to our public entrance. We have worked with local partners to lengthen the crosswalk signals at the main intersection and have added turn signals coming from the north and south corridors. These measures help, but they are just a start,” Clark wrote.
