Ohio State fans jump in Mirror Lake.

Ohio State fans jump in Mirror Lake. Credit: Lantern file photo

Letter to the editor:

In years past, the Ohio State University has made it a point to send emails to the students to discourage them from jumping in Mirror Lake as part of the Beat Michigan Week agenda. They remind the students that this is not a school sanctioned event and that they do not condone this sacred tradition.

Obviously, the purpose of the events that I describe above is for legal protection in the case of a hypothetical tragedy.

Now that OSU is distributing wristbands, it has contradicted its previous stance (discouraging students from jumping and Mirror Lake being a non-sanctioned event) which it claims to still uphold today. By distributing wristbands to students, the university is completely condoning the actions of these students with wristbands. The new regulations of Mirror Lake illustrate the fact that this is definitely a school sanctioned event. Thus OSU becomes more liable as more wristbands are distributed. These regulations are unnecessary and will become detrimental not only to the university but the OSU experience that every single student has the right to experience if he or she chooses.

Ultimately, I strongly believe the wristbands will be as effective as the campus smoking ban, requiring BuckIDs for concerts at the Oval and the imaginary walk zone on the Oval.

I believe that I speak for the student body, alumni and the entire Buckeye Nation when I say that as Americans we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Mirror Lake.

Go Bucks.

Matt Stewart
[email protected]
Fourth-year in history