When students are walking home after a long night of partying in the stifling heat of apartments or fraternity basements, they’re looking for a way to cool off, and — for some — a quick skinny-dip in Penn State’s outdoor pool is just too enticing to pass up.

Police have already cited students in six separate instances of trespassing in the outdoor pool after hours this summer, police said.

Some students — clad in swimsuits — appear to have planned out a night of forbidden swimming, police said, while others seem to have hopped the pool’s fence for a spontaneous skinny-dip after a night of partying.

Planned or not, McCoy Natatorium Manager Shawn DeRosa said these nighttime swims can be deadly.

Swimmers can be severely injured or killed from a simple jump off the high dive, DeRosa said, not to mention that there’s an increased chance of drowning at night.

Even worse, police said many of the swimmers cited for trespassing were under the influence of alcohol — a combination that Deputy Director of the Penn State Police Tyrone Parham said could be fatal.

“Even during the day with lifeguards, most pools say no alcohol because it impairs your ability to swim,” Parham said.

Parham said alcohol impairs people’s judgment to the point that they will try dangerous activities that they wouldn’t otherwise do while sober.

DeRosa said lifeguards have already sent multiple swimmers to the hospital after they suffered injuries from routine jumps off the 7.5-meter diving platform during daytime hours.

DeRosa said swimmers have experienced severe facial trauma and dislocated shoulders from diving incorrectly off the platform.

Because of the danger, pool lifeguards won’t allow swimmers to jump off the pool’s highest, 10-meter platform, but there aren’t any lifeguards to stop trespassers from making that jump at night — or to save them if they get injured.

“There could just be a very tragic accident,” Parham said.

That’s why police said they patrol the area on a regular basis at night.

Police have cited trespassers on May 14, June 24, and July 9, 10, 11 and 18 of this year, police said.

Police said they issued citations at the pool early in the morning on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Arts Fest weekend.

Police often catch the trespassers actually swimming in the pool or climbing over the fence soaking wet, police said.

More rarely, people are cited after police find them walking down the roads close to the pool soaking wet, police said.

“It’s one of those things you shake your head at,” Parham said. “It’s just not a good idea.”