“A moral approach: The Qyron Williams Story”

Qyron Williams pursued Southern University as an incoming freshman with dreams and hopes to succeed and thrive in a community that accepted him. His dream came to a sudden end when two cars struck him after leaving his job at McDonald’s on Harding Blvd in the early weeks of April of 2021.
The controversy surrounding the case occurs when considering that the driver who took Mr. Williams’ life resided at Southern University and fled towards the back of campus to the university dorms. Despite the university being aware of the situation, no further action was taken to the knowledge of helping William’s mother to identify the driver.
Qyron’s mother, Tijshika Willliams, says that after seven months she still has not been able to find peace in the situation, and strongly feels that the university disregarded the incident to their best ability. Ms.Williams’ effort in bringing attention to Qyron continued in September when she tried to do an on-campus balloon release while putting flyers out to show students the cars that allegedly fled the scene. Photos of the vehicle were able to be obtained from the bank across the street where the incident took place from the hump leading onto Southern’s campus.
Ms.Williams was directed to Mr. Cedrick Noel, director of the Smith and Brown Memorial Union, who directed her to Mandy McKinsey, Administrative Assistant to Associate Athletic Director of Administration. During the weekend that the incident took place, it happened to be homecoming week on Southern University’s campus. This led to an increase in traffic, and according to McKinsey, a shift in liability in regards to responsibility for incidents on campus.
“The campus is turned over to the athletes from Friday to Sunday during homecoming,” said Mckinsie regarding the university policy of incidents during gameday environments. After being told to put her request in writing for a follow-up investigation into the incident that took her son’s life, Ms.Williams waited and got no reply back, even after following up with Ms. McKinsey.
Williams had been attending the university since August of 2020, majoring in Graphic Design with a minor in music. Williams had a passion for music, entertainment and technology. His hard work never went unnoticed, with even Governor John Bel Ewdward paying his respects by honoring Qyron.
India Wayde, a manager at the McDonald’s where Qyron worked stated that he was a hard worker, and deserves justice. “I don’t think the university or law officials did a good job. The people who harmed him are still out here. The only thing they have is a description of the cars and that’s not enough.”
Now Qyron’s mother wants an understanding of why the university treated her so poorly and with such indifference when trying to get justice for her son, and trying to bring awareness to students. Law officials gave Ms.Williams’ contact information to Detective Bennett, a current worker at Baton Rouge police department. Detective Bennnett then gave Ms.Williams hospital information, after which point, her life was never the same.
“If a student is in an accident and they pass, the university has a policy through the student health center that is paid for through insurance so that the student’s beneficiary will receive a $10,000 death benefit,” says Dr. Jackson, Vice Chancellor Of Student Affairs. Ultimately the University fulfilled its obligations in ensuring that Ms.Williams received her.
$10,000 check and they fulfilled their legal obligations as outlined by the university constitution, but from the standpoint of Qyron’s mother, they failed her tremendously from an ethical and moral standpoint by not helping more in finding out who was responsible for the death of Williams.
According to Ms. Williams, the check meant absolutely nothing because it could not bring back what she lost. Jayda Haynes, a senior majoring in Law says it’s devastating how well the university covered this situation up. “I literally am on this campus daily and heard nothing about this incident. That’s beyond heartbreaking; he deserved more than that.”
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