OSU to give wristbands for frigid lake jump
Published 2:00 am Friday, November 21, 2014
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio State University is again trying to regulate the traditional jump by students into a frigid campus lake days ahead of the rivalry football game against Michigan, school officials said.
The school plans to put up a fence around Mirror Lake and hand out wristbands in advance for students who want to take the plunge on Tuesday, The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1xDEX98 ) reported.
The university enacted similar regulations last year. Still, some students defiantly organized an unofficial jump on social media and stormed the fence to enter the lake a day early. Several hundred students then gathered for the official version.
The school said it does not endorse or encourage the tradition and advises against jumping into the lake. But school spokesman Dan Hedman said it’s obligated to provide a safe environment.
Police will be ready this year if students again attempt to take the plunge early, Hedman said.
Undergraduate Student Government President Celia Wright told the newspaper regulating the jump is a way to preserve the ritual, which began in 1990 and has drawn thousands of students and others each year.
“If we’re not willing to make those changes, inevitably somebody is going to get really hurt,” she said.
The OSU-Michigan game is Nov. 29.