When Chancellor Mauli Agrawal heard about the passing of UMKC Conservatory student Yuxi Wu, he thought about the parents who were left without a daughter.
“For somebody who is older, my wife and I think of all of our students as part of a family. That was the first piece–think of the parents,” Agrawal said. “There are times when you can put on your chancellor hat, but there are times when we just need to connect as humans–this was one of those occasions.”
Wu, a master’s student, was in her first semester on campus and was killed by a speeding car while crossing 51st Street and Troost Avenue on Sept. 26. Wu’s parents, who live in China, were able to enter the country when the university contacted Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, who approached the U.S. Embassy, granting them emergency visas.
Agrawal recently met with Rockhurst University President Sandra Cassady and other city officials to discuss potential changes that could be made to the intersection, which currently has a crosswalk and a button that triggers flashing lights.
“Because these are city roads, they are under the jurisdiction of the city; we cannot make any changes,” said Agrawal. “We can only encourage the city and engage them in conversations, and they have been very helpful.”
Agrawal said he would like to see traffic lights installed, crosswalks on all four sides of the intersection and some form of a speed abatement, which are physical structures that slow down drivers. However, plans may be delayed due to the approaching winter, he said.
“When winter sets in, there’s not as much street work that can go on. Even if they want to paint crosswalks, those paints don’t take because of the low temperature,” said Agrawal. “We’ll see what the city can get done before the onset of heavy winter.”
For the broader campus, Agarwal pointed out changes to the section of 51st Street between Cherry Street and Rockhill Road, which has been turned into a pedestrian plaza. The road is now closed to all vehicular traffic, which took almost four years according to Agarwal.
Due to the approaching inclement weather, further changes will have to wait until springtime and Agrawal intends to evaluate safety issues at the end of 51st and Cherry streets, near the Student Union. He mentioned the possibility of adding stop signs and painting crosswalks.
“In terms of heavy traffic, this is the end of October already, and then another month or so, and then it’ll start to dissipate as people go into the exam week,” said Agrawal. “ Springtime is when you’ll see activity. We would like to go earlier, but that’s just the reality.”
Agrawal encouraged students who feel unsafe on campus to report those concerns to the administration, noting plans to address other concerns of safety on campus. One change to be made is in the Health Sciences district with plans to add “card in and card out” systems to increase security, he said.
“We all feel this was something very sad, very tragic, and we wish there will be none of these ever,” said Agrawal about the Wu tragedy. “In the next few months and next year, things I hope will be very different at 51st and Troost.”
