Yes, there is a series of tunnels that run between nearly every building on campus. No, students cannot -- and never have been able to -- access them.
"[That rumor] comes up about every four years," Jim Lowe, director of facilities assessment, said. "At some point in time, hopefully the word is passed along that it was always only used for infrastructure."
"What we use the tunnels for is to connect our infrastructure system," Lowe said. "For nothing more than a way for us to install piping or communications or electrical so that one can access it and either modify or repair, as opposed to getting out a heavy piece of equipment like a backhoe out."
There are a few places where underground passages are accessed by people other than utility workers. Indiana Academy students and faculty use a tunnel that runs between Wagoner Hall and Elliott Hall, Nina Tupy, residence hall director for Elliot Hall, said.
Also, a passage that runs between Pruis Hall and Emens Auditorium is used by crews to move equipment between the two buildings, Rob Myers, director of Emens Auditorium and Pruis Hall, said. But it isn't open for students to use as a walkway.
Most of the tunnels are only accessed when something needs to be repaired.
"There are people who are authorized to be down there, and there are people who periodically go down there for inspections," Lowe said. " We have electricians who are down there occasionally, as well as plumbers. There are people who are responsible for frequent tours and inspections, and they report back repair needs."
The tunnels, which are on average 6 feet wide and 7 feet tall and run from Carmichael to the Student Center, were first installed 60 to 70 years ago, Lowe said.
"The first section of tunnel to be built on campus originated at our boiler plant," Lowe said. The boiler plant is located at the base of the smoke stacks in West Quad. "I believe the idea at the time was to connect steam and compressed air to the buildings on campus."
The tunnels were not all built at once, though.
"The tunnel construction coincides with construction of buildings," Lowe said. "Over the years our tunnel system evolved because of the way campus was evolving. It's like an umbilical cord that connects the campus."
Lowe describes the tunnel system as being similar to a road system. There are main highways, which are the original tunnels built when the boiler plant was built.
Lowe said underground tunnel networks are common among college campuses and other complexes organized around a central heating and utility building. Despite the many urban legends surrounding the tunnels, such as the tunnels once being inhabited by a homeless person, Lowe said he was unaware of any such incidents actually occurring. Every entrance is under lock and key, he said.
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