Police, emergency vehicles and students crowded around the crosswalk connecting Osprey Fountains with the interior campus as a student lay on the ground after a Ford F250 hit him around 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25.

The tips of your fingers disappear into the soft earth as damp granules shift to create a cocoon for budding life. The grassy corner beside the Robert W. Lofton Nature Trails expect something new. In...