University of Oregon Tunnels

University of Oregon has a system of tunnels that is currently used only for maintenance. Steam is used to heat the campus and the tunnels are said to house electrical and telephone wires as well. Though, there are stories of the tunnels being connected Greek houses off campus. 

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Research conducted by Elizabeth J. Simonsen in 2002, accessed via the Randall V. Mills archives, details information of the tunnels in relation to sorority and fraternity houses on campus. Rumors are shared in sororities and fraternities of a system of tunnels connecting the Greek houses to the Collier House on campus. Some reported the tunnels being used to walk to fraternity parties in secret, other believe it was used to transport food from one house to another because a chef was shared between Greek houses. Another explanation could be a means of getting to class in poor weather when the University was first established. 

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Though, stories of wild parties, fraternity hazing, rape and death surround the reasons for closure of the tunnel system. 

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Simonsen cites Hatfield (1978), “We’d go down there with a flashlight. Sometimes we’d have to crawl but mostly we could walk along… you could go down there with 15 or 20 people.”

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Simonsen attempted to link these known tunnel access spaces to Greek houses, and while she found a suspicious wall in the boiler room of her sorority house, there was no conclusive evidence.