On Jan. 24, three international SLU students from India were involved in a tragic car accident. The incident occurred on the westbound side of the U.S. Highway 40 (Interstate 64) when a vehicle made contact with them while they were on the highway. They were transported to the nearest hospitals where they received medical care. Two other SLU students witnessed the accident, but were not injured. Two St. Louis City Police officers were involved in the collision and injured as well. SLU was unable to comment on the current condition of those involved. 

     In response, the SLU community immediately began pouring out support, not only for the three international students and their families and friends, but for all international students at SLU. Kevin Komodi, an international student from Hungary, spoke about the reactions he observed after the incident. 

     “The school sent out the email from the president, but the Office of International Services also reached out to check on us. They gave us a list of counseling options. They also had poster boards in the Office of International Services for each of the students who were involved in the accident, and we were able to sign the board and write a message. Then, the office gave them to the students who were involved in the accident,” Komodi said. 

     The Office of International Services worked towards making sure everyone was supported, whether they knew the students impacted or not. While Komodi did not know them personally, he understood how difficult a tragedy in a foreign country can be. 

     “It is so hard to imagine what their families and parents were going through or even close friends 

in the states. When I heard the news, I was first thinking about the family and friends of these students,” Komodi explained. 

     These events can impact SLU students in several ways, whether they personally know these students or not, motivating SLU’s administration to reach out to the wider student body. 

     Sarah Cunningham, Ed.D., SLU’s Vice President for Student Development, discussed how SLU handled the situation with the goal of wellbeing and safety of the students and community.

     “When a student is in crisis, we work to immediately assess and wrap them with the support they need to thrive, whether that be physically, mentally, emotionally or socially. Our teams in the Dean of Students office and other key support areas are trained in crisis management and response, and in this case we also relied heavily on the experts in International Services to understand how to best support our students given the identities and experiences they hold,” Cunningham said.

     When the accident occurred, SLU was prepared with several structures in place to be able to respond.

      “We quickly pulled together leaders from different departments, including International Services, the Dean of Students office, University Counseling Center, and Housing and Residence Life, among others, to plan outreach to our students and their families. Our goal was to work quickly to assess the students’ needs and make sure their families could safely and quickly travel here to be with their Billikens,” Cunningham said.

     The campus community continues to offer their care and prayers for the three Billikens impacted, the two students who witnessed the accident, and anyone affected by this tragedy, directly or indirectly.