One piece of RIT folklore talks about how there is/was a tunnel connecting the academic side of campus with the residential side. There are actually several variations of this story:
- The most common variation of this story is that there is/was a cross-campus utility tunnel. This tunnel is supposed to carry various pipes and cables and is accessible only to Physical Plant.
There is a decent chance that this story is/was true. The Quarter Mile, connecting the two halves of campus, is raised above the surrounding ground. I've often wondered why it is raised. It makes it even more windy, something the campus definitely does not need. The one kink in this theory is the maintenance road going under the Quarter Mile between the SLC and the Clark Gym. If this story is/was true then either:
- The tunnel is very deep at that point, which is unlikely because that is already one of the lowest points on campus and the water table is so high it would make a deep tunnel somewhat difficult to maintain.
- There was once a tunnel going the whole way but part of it was removed when the maintance road was put in.
Another issue this raises is the question of where one would gain access to this tunnel. I have not explored that area of the residential side tunnels extensively but the academic side has a few locked doors in the section nearest the other side. Further exploration of the tunnel system is warranted.
- One occasionaly seen variant of the RIT cross-campus tunnel story is that there was once a publicly accessible tunnel in place. The theory goes on to say that it was closed because the administration didn't like that the students would use the tunnels exclusively and never see the light of day.
I highly doubt that this story is true. I have found no evidence to back it up.
see also: Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT tunnel system, RIT folklore