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OSU Wants To End Mirror Lake Jump After Student Death

Daniel Chi
/
thelantern.com

Ohio State University says it will move to end an annual jump into a campus lake after a third-year student experienced a fatal medical emergency while participating in the tradition.   

A statement from university President Michael Drake says the student pulled from Mirror Lake early Wednesday morning was Austin Singletary, of Dayton.   Columbus police say he had a cardiac emergency. He died later at a hospital. The jump has become an annual tradition, held before the football game with rival Michigan.  Although there have been injuries in the past this is the first death associated with the annual jump.  In 2012, the  university began to try to take some control over the unsanctioned event, cordoning off the lake and requiring students to get wristbands allowing them to participate.  The president's statement says Tuesday's tragedy occurred despite efforts to make it safer.   The statement says university leaders agree they'll work with the campus community to end the student-led event.
 

A native of Chicago, naturalized citizen of Cincinnati and resident of Columbus, Alison attended Earlham College and the Ohio State University. She has equal passion for Midwest history, hockey and Slavic poetry.
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