From: aclark@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Andrew Clark)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college,soc.college
Subject: Re: Steam Tunnels
Summary: my own story
Date: 5 Apr 92 20:25:04 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.college
Distribution: na
Organization: University of California, San Diego

>fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) writes:
>> tgpt_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Tom Guptill) writes:
>>
>>	Rumor has it that if you're caught in the steam tunnels at the
>>University of New Hampshire you are expelled immediately, no questions
>>asked.  Makes you kind of wonder if they're keeping that governor who we
>
>Same thing at Stony Brook where I went to school.  That only made it more
>enticing. 
>
>It's also complete bullshit.  Public Safety "officers" are bozos and if you
>play stupid enough they will just show you out.  My friends got caught
>because they walked RIGHT PAST the place where the tunnels border on the
>Public Safety office in the Admin building (the place where everyone knows
>NOT to go).  They just said "Where's the lecture center"  and were told
>"you have to go above ground for that"
>
>If I were I ever caught, it was my plan to say "Where the fuck am I?  I
>just walked through an open door in the basement and suddenly I was here
>and started looking around."
>
    I saw this and thought I might comment.  You see, I ended up in
the steam tunnels at UCSD in precisely this fashion.  I was looking
around the basement floor of AP&M and went through an unlocked door
which LOCKED behind me.  I had been locked into the heating area,
and the only exit was the steam tunnel access.  I squeezed through
the double doors -- losing skin and clothing in the process -- and
spent a very unhappy three hours looking for a way out.  
    I found out that there were no unlocked exits.  I got out by
climbing an access ladder (that led to a locked grille) and shouting
for help.  Some kind people called the police, and the police came in
and found me.  I used the excuse above, and it was true.  I had
missed a class, and I was quite unhappy by this point.
    The grille turned out to be at the entrance to the Muir college
dining facility.  The police went through four keyrings until they
found the right key to open a tunnel door.  Then, they escorted me
out -- into the Ratskeller restaraunt during dinner hour, right past
+/- 100 students.  What a way to be rescued. 
    I used the excuse above, because it was true.  The police answer
was "Right, sure, kid."  I spent some very uncomfortable time in the
back of a patrol car.  Then, they found out that the class I had
missed was an honors seminar.  I managed to convince them that pure
stupidity had gotten me down there (it had) since I hadn't brought a
flashlight or anything else that might have been useful.  
    The tunnels themselves aren't much -- every access is locked and
alarmed (apparently, someone from Maintenance forgot to lock the
door that got me trapped.)  Steam pipes run along one side of the
tunnel, and the tunnel itself is about six feet tall.  I'm 6'1" :-<
    I'm not going down there again; there's really no point.  I
don't know about other universities, but the UCSD steam tunnels are
something to avoid. 

We have virtual reality now -- George Bush lives in it.  
-- 
Andrew Clark - My ignorance is my own fault. 
aclark@UCSD.EDU   :-)  I hate Macs!  :-) 
Repeal California Prop. 13!  Demand sensible property taxes!                 
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.college