8 OregonStater.org TUNNEL: KATTERLEA MACGREGOR, ’24; DORM FOOD: OSU SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES “IT WAS SPOOKY, AND WE HEARD STRANGE NOISES. THE OLDER WORKERS TOLD ME IT WAS THE PIPES.” Underground Stories My husband [Dr. Mark Rampton, ’72] has interesting steam tunnel stories. As a high schooler growing up in Corvallis, he and a group of friends would enter the steam tunnel at night, and they knew how to come up into the women’s gym and swim in the pool. I think they even took a canoe down and rowed around. It seems that they almost got caught once. By the time my high school class came of age, three years later, the tunnels were locked up. —ALICE RAMPTON I enjoyed the article regarding the steam tunnels. My wife, Sally Blanc, was a secretary for the athletic department from 1976 to 1978 while I attended school. Paul Valenti got me a job with the plumbing department across the street from Gill. In the summers of 1976 and 1977, they turned off the steam so we could go underneath for repairs — new gaskets and fittings and various repairs. Even with the steam off, it was hot! I didn’t mind. I was young and AI EVERYWHERE We rarely run out of extra copies of the magazine, but we came awfully close with the Spring 2025 issue. Its cover story, “6 Things You Might Not Know About OSU and AI,” got the word out about the university’s artificial intelligence prowess at events including the Portland Business Journal’s April AI Forum. And our story about the OSU steam tunnels — and the myth and mystery that surrounds them — generated the most reader excitement, especially online. It was the most clicked story in the Stater’s email newsletter and prompted a few readers to share their own experiences below ground. SPRING 2025 SPRING 2025 EXPLORING OSU’S TUNNELS CUTE DOG SNIFFS OUT SCIENCE CLUES GO BEAVS! Six brag-worthy ways we’re making an impact with artificial intelligence. p. 32 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ↑ Diamond drops of condensation shimmer on the ceiling of an OSU steam tunnel passage. L E T T E R S
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