MALIBU, Calif. — Pepperdine University announced Thursday the establishment of a scholarship in honor of four undergraduate students killed in October when struck by a driver on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Pepperdine worked with the families of Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams to set up the “Our Four Angels Endowed Scholarship” for students at the university’s undergraduate school, Seaver College, according to the university.

In a message sent to students, staff and faculty on Wednesday, Connie Horton, Pepperdine vice president for student affairs, lauded the “unique impact” of “these amazing women,” noting that their absence will be long felt on campus.

Horton added that the fund will “contribute to the academic pursuits of deserving students” and “serve as a beacon of hope and remembrance for the lives that touched ours so profoundly.”

The four students, who were all 20 and 21 years old, were killed on the night of Oct. 17, when a driver who was allegedly speeding west on Pacific Coast Highway slammed into several parked cars on the north shoulder of the roadway. Sheriff’s officials said those parked cars struck the four women, killing them at the scene.

The driver, Fraser Michael Bohm, 22, has been charged with four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. His bail was set at $4 million, which he posted on Oct. 27 and was released from custody.

Bohm’s attorney has contended that Bohm was the victim of a road-rage incident on Pacific Coast Highway and was being chased when the crash occurred.