On Friday evening a University of Baltimore student was hit by an MTA bus. The incident temporarily closed traffic around the intersection at St. Paul and 33rd.
Hillary Walsh, the victim, was taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she currently remains in the intensive-care unit, although a support website set up by her family indicates that she is recovering.
In the immediate aftermath of the accident, there was a great deal of confusion. Carrie Bennett, the Hopkins Student/Community Liaison, tweeted that the victim was a non-affiliate, but nonetheless students still called each other to see if their friends were safe.
Over the next few days, no bulletin was sent out informing the students of the incident. While this page recognizes that the University may not have the same obligations to non-affiliates as it does to its students, this event nonetheless held significance for the Hopkins community. Students who heard of the accident but were unaware of the details were concerned for their peers at Hopkins.
Beyond that, Walsh was with her friend, a Hopkins student, at the time of the accident. Friendships and community ties stretch across school lines. A notification from the University would have alleviated some fears, and quelled the potential spread of inaccuracies regarding the situation.
While the accident was not reported in the daily security bulletin because of an error rather than a deliberate decision, the fact remains that students heard little regarding the accident from the University.
This incident is of particular salience because so many similar accidents have deeply impacted the Hopkins community. Verified facts about such incidences have been slow to spread throughout the student body and an official statement from the University would have gone a long way in mitigating concern.
