Students gathered today to honour the memory of the KCL student who died in an accident on the Strand Campus of King’s College London (KCL) yesterday. This comes at a time of growing frustration among students regarding the University’s response.
A female physics student was killed by a van while sitting on a bench near St Mary Le Strand. The vehicle crashed through Bush House’s South West Gate. The accident left two more students in hospital, one of whom remains in intensive care.
The family of the deceased student has asked that the university does not share the student’s name.
The gathering this evening was organised by PhD student Charel, who is the administrator of the popular Instagram meme page @kclbrosmemes. The page has 16k followers and is a prominent feature of King’s student culture.
Charel told Roar: “I’m tired of people saying that someone should do something. So I decided to do something.”
Students lit candles, left flowers and hand-written messages, and held a long silence for the victim. Friends of the student and strangers alike could be seen weeping.
Disappointment lurked in the sombre atmosphere. “I just wish the university had recognised that it’s one of us that lost their life. The fact that they went on with life as usual is so disrespectful,” said third-year student Muntaha.
Senior King’s leadership arrived 20 minutes into the Vigil.
“It was a horrible accident,” said Senior Vice-President Steve Large.
When asked about the university’s response to the accident, Mr Large said: “The situation was handled really, really well yesterday. Emergency services were doing their best to ensure that everyone was safe.”
The university has been in communication with the family but was not the first to inform them of the accident. “This is the responsibility of the emergency services,” said Mr Large.
Many students have since called for the full pedestrianisation of the Strand area, which is a public space administered by the Westminster Council. When asked about this, Mr Large sympathised with the idea but pointed out the need for delivery vehicles to access the University and local businesses.
He added: “It’s much, much better than it used to be.”
King’s students have reported feeling threatened by vehicles driving past. In response, Mr Large said the liaison group between the Council and the University will try to negotiate traffic regulations.
Follow Roar’s coverage of the accident and all subsequent events here.
