Students are coordinating yet another jump into Mirror Lake, this time as a thank you to former head football coach, Jim Tressel.
A Facebook event titled “Jump for Jim” has been created and is scheduled for 10 p.m. Friday. There were 1,960 guests attending on Facebook and more than 5,700 guests awaiting reply as of 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Jim Ellia, a second-year in strategic communication, was one of the first to list himself as attending the event.
“What better way to show we love Tressel?” Ellia said.
In the information section on the Facebook page, it says the event is “In honor of an amazing coach. Time to support him and show him we love him and will miss him.”
Tressel, the third-winningest coach in OSU football history, submitted his letter of resignation to athletic director Gene Smith on Monday.
The posts on the wall of the event show mixed emotions about the event. Some say jumping in Mirror Lake is becoming redundant, while others back the jump and the cause.
In an email that Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for student life, sent to students Thursday afternoon, she advised students not to jump into Mirror Lake on Friday.
“It’s dangerous,” Adams-Gaston said. “The area is slippery, crowded and inadequately lighted; the water is dirty and there are unseen hazards; many participants will be intoxicated and not using good judgment. People get hurt.”
Safety isn’t the only conern.
Some students who think the jump in honor of Tressel takes away from the meaning behind the traditional Mirror Lake jump even created a separate Facebook group titled “Keep Mirror Lake Jump Sacred to Michigan Week.”
“Proposing a jump every time something significant happens is unoriginal,” Adams-Gaston said in the email.
There were 1,910 guests attending and more than 3,700 guests awaiting reply on Facebook as of 9:30 p.m Wednesday.
The information section of this group says, “Don’t get cute and create events in honor of something recent that everyone cares about. Stop tarnishing a day we all love and just jump once.”
Ellia said the tradition of the official Mirror Lake Jump, which takes place annually during Beat Michigan Week, can never be tarnished.
“The tradition will always be there, but Tressel is one of the greatest coaches Ohio State has had and he’s leaving,” Ellia said. “Nothing formal was done to say goodbye and what a better way for a non-formal school to do it.”
Ellia is hoping for a turnout similar to the jump in reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden.
Marissa Mittelman, a first-year in nursing, is marked as attending on Facebook but has not decided if she will jump Friday.
“I’ll jump if my friends go with me,” Mittelman said.
Mittelman predicts that at least a couple hundred people will show.
“People here always end up coming to this kind of stuff,” Mittelman said.
OSU police did not return multiple requests for comment Wednesday.
Ellia said if he shows up and the cops are there, he will not jump, but he thinks students could work with the OSU police.
“I think after a successful Chittshow, that they know that students can have a good time and still be under control,” Ellia said.
Whether the police allow students to jump in Mirror Lake, Ellia would like to see students attend to show support.
“We wouldn’t have had the great Mirror Lake jumps the last 10 years had it not been for him,” Ellia said.
