The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

Dispelling the myths of Westhampton Lake

Westhampton Lake is like homework for University of Richmond students -- it can't be avoided.

Most students cross the lake several times a day to go to class, eat their meals and visit friends.

Last week, senior Chad Crigger heard his friends talking about jumping in the lake.

"My friends said, 'What have we done with our time here? We haven't jumped in the lake,'" Crigger said. "I guess if you tell the students they can't do something, they will want to do it."

During his four years at Richmond, Crigger said he had seen a few people go in the lake.

"When I was a freshman I was at the Cellar in one of the booths by the window," he said. "It was the night of a fraternity or sorority social in February. A girl stepped on the wall of the walkway outside, stripped down to her bra and underwear and jumped into the lake. Everyone was pretty excited and ran outside to see."

Joseph Boehman, dean of Richmond College, said in an e-mail that a few years ago a student swam in the lake during the candlelight ceremony on commencement weekend.

"I will not go into any sanctioning that took place, but, yes, there was a conversation by a member of my staff and that student," he said.

But jumping in the lake was discouraged long before Boehman was hired in 2007. On Sept. 26, 1999, Donnie Lindsey Jr., a freshman on the football team, jumped into the lake during Richmond College Investiture and drowned.

Daniel Fabian, associate dean of Richmond College, said several students had tried to rescue Lindsey, but their attempts failed.

"It was a very sad and difficult time for many at UR," he said.

Jumping in the lake was part of an unsponsored school tradition that some Richmond College freshmen participated in before Lindsey's death.

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After the tragedy, the school took special precautions to keep students out of the lake during Investiture.

But there are other reasons the administration does not want students to enter the lake, said Steve Glass, horticulturist and landscape manager for the university.

"The lake does not meet swimming health standards," he said. "It is a very urban lake. It's polluted from the ducks and geese, as well as from people that walk their dogs along the lake and do not clean up after them.

"Most urban lakes do not to meet swimming health standards."

Reports of health concerns plagued the lake as early as 1941 and in 1995, The Collegian reported that there was a substantial amount of E. Coli in the water.

The Collegian has also reported the presence of a large snapping turtle in the lake, and a dog that died after falling through the ice that forms on top of the lake.

In 1922, a student died from cramps while swimming in the lake. Another died after cramping up in 1939 and in 1969, a sophomore died in a skating accident on the lake.

Although swimming in the lake was permanently banned in 1976, unsponsored ceremonies continued to take place.

Derek DeBree told The Collegian in 1988 that when a Sigma Phi Epsilon "pinned" his girlfriend, it was tradition for him to be thrown in the lake wearing only his boxer shorts.

The rest of the brothers would take his clothes to his girlfriend.

They would sing to her and carry her down to the lake on their shoulders so she could rescue her boyfriend from the lake.

Kevin Grayson, RC '11, was a wide receiver on the football team at Richmond. He said he knew of Lindsey's death in 1999, but didn't know of any football players who jumped in the lake during his four-and-a-half years at the school.

But he did know of two students from his dorm freshman year who had a swimming race from the Westhampton side of the lake to the Richmond side of the lake.

"I don't know why kids would want to swim in the lake, though," Grayson said. "It's probably nasty and cold, but I guess people do it for laughs and competition."

Contact staff writer Zak Kozuchowski at zak.kozuchowski@richmond.edu

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