Officials: Don't jump Thursday
By
Ally Marotti
[email protected]
Published: Monday, November 22, 2010
Updated: Monday, November 22, 2010 21:11
Every year around midnight on the Thursday before the Michigan game, police and Ohio State officials ease up on the law when more than 12,000 OSU students jump into Mirror Lake, an act that officials say is technically criminal trespassing. The fourth-degree misdemeanor is tradition, but this year, tradition has changed.
The Michigan game is the Saturday after Thanksgiving this year, putting the Mirror Lake jump on the Thanksgiving holiday. Because the jump is not a university-sponsored event, students took things into their own hands, broke tradition and moved the jump to Tuesday.
"I just decided that it should be Tuesday and everyone else just join in," said Brittany McDonald, a second-year in math who created the Facebook group "Mirror Lake Jump 2010," an impromptu forum to organize the event.
McDonald said she chose Tuesday because she knew most people would be home for Thanksgiving on Thursday, herself included.
Thousands of other students apparently thought the same thing. According to the Facebook group, almost 13,500 people are attending the Mirror Lake jump on Tuesday.
"The date doesn't really matter so much as the entire student body of OSU getting together and giving Michigan a giant middle finger," said Andrew MacMillan, a 2010 graduate who made the jump three times while at OSU.
However, many students plan to jump both nights to keep tradition alive. The Facebook group, along with university officials and police, advise students not to jump Thursday.
"People who go in the water Thursday night are at greater risk of being charged for criminal trespassing," said Capt. Eric Whiteside of OSU Police. "We don't want people in the water at all on Thursday."
Signs posted around Mirror Lake say no trespassing or swimming in the lake. Normally, violators could be arrested and charged with criminal trespassing.
The maximum penalty for a fourth-degree misdemeanor includes 200 hours of community service, a $250 fine and 30 days in jail.
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