BC Senior Killed in Car Wreck

Barnard senior Alexis "Lexie" McNaughton Knox died in a car accident in North Carolina on Monday afternoon. She was 22.

Knox, a women's studies major, was on a leave for the semester, staying with relatives in North Carolina. Her car collided with a truck as she was driving.

The Barnard community was notified via e-mail on Tuesday afternoon by Dorothy Denburg, dean of Barnard College. She wrote that Knox had been planning to return to Barnard in the fall to complete her final semester.

"Lexie was an engaged and active member of our community and a strong student leader on many important issues," Denburg wrote.

Friends and faculty praised Knox as a vibrant, intelligent presence who will be sorely missed.

"I think she put her whole heart into whatever she undertook," Barnard Dean of Studies Karen Blank said. She added that Knox's passion made her well-known throughout the community; multiple women's studies professors praised her thoughtfulness concerning international women's issues.

"Lexie was a very intelligent and involved student who worked to make the world a better place, particularly through feminist activism," Janet Jakobsen, director of the Center for Research on Women and Knox's academic advisor, wrote in an e-mail.

"She was really brilliant, incredibly brilliant," agreed Emily Dobbins, BC '06. "She pushed boundaries and questioned things."

Though Knox grappled with some personal difficulties-Women's Studies Department Administrator Riya Ortiz noted she was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons last December before going on leave-friends recalled the Oklahoma native's many pursuits. She was, among other things, a Centennial Scholar, an intern for Senator Clinton, and advocate for Sanctuary for Families, a non-profit organization.

At Columbia, she was deeply involved in the debate over the University's Sexual Misconduct Policy, organizing the SGA Town Hall last fall. She was even featured on Barnard's Web site last spring for participating in Oxygen's "Mentors Walk," an event which paired young women with more established counterparts for a walk through Central Park. Knox was paired with Oxygen's CEO.

"She was involved in everything but always wanted to make sure everyone else was taken care of," Remi Coker, BC '08, said.

Barnard Trustee Rosa Alonzo, BC '82 and Knox's mentor for three years, lamented the loss of one whom she came to consider an honorary relative.

"She was extremely special, and she had a very, very bright future," Alonzo said. "She's going to be up there raising hell."