Ohio State crowd makes traditional lake jump early

Students eshew barricades to regulate tradition

11/27/2013
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Some students have plunged into a frigid campus lake early to defy Ohio State University’s attempt to regulate the traditional jump during the week of the Buckeyes’ football game against Michigan.

The annual tradition attracts thousands of people, and the university previously allowed it. But this year, officials erected temporary fencing around Mirror Lake and said only students issued special wrist bands could take the plunge Tuesday.

The Columbus Dispatch reports a crowd of students and other fans stormed the fence Monday night to make the jump. A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy says authorities decided to remove blockades after people knocked down some of the fence and ran through caution tape.

OSU had said the restrictions were meant to protect students, who organized the preemptive jump on social media.