Long been the stuff of Hopkins urban legend and a secret for the select few on campus, the steam tunnels may soon lose their mystery. A new initiative announced by the Hopkins Housing Office proposes additional student housing in the tunnels.
The official announcement, penned by the Hopkins Housing Office and released through emails, cites “higher operational costs” and “lack of housing in the area” as an impetus to seek new areas for development and community improvement, including the steam tunnels. The office also lists multiple benefits to the new housing apart from its (lower) costs, including closer proximity to campus, increased Hopkins school spirit, rainproof access to some lecture halls and unmatched privacy, as the housing will not include windows.
“It is not like students at Hopkins see the sun much anyways, always studying or doing labs,” one person, who drafted the announcement, shared to The News-Letter anonymously.
The announcement went largely unnoticed on Wednesday under the mountains of Canvas reminders and Handshake notifications. However, some students soon found out and took to Sidechat to comment on the memo.
“I’ve been waiting for this day to come,” commented one student on the app in response to a posted photo of the announcement and received over 500 likes, gaining eternal university fame. “I can finally pay both my rent and my instant ramen collection in the same month and not feel guilty about buying myself an annual avocado toast from Starbucks!”
However, the overall reaction from the student body was mixed. A small group of students have gathered in front of the Housing Office door with signs that say “Keep Our Tunnels Ours” and “No More Tunnel Developments.”
Raven Datunnels (no relation), one of the student organizers of the protest, gave her statement to The News-Letter after putting up signs across campus on cork boards to oppose the change.
“The steam tunnels are not only a sacred place for us and the legacy of Johns Hopkins University, but also the place we call home. It is a safe space,” she said. “We don’t want outside developers to come in and change that after it has survived by our hands alone for decades.”
Datunnels added that raids by the Johns Hopkins Police Department (JHPD) in previous years — cracking down on parties and raves held in the tunnels — have dampened the atmosphere and sense of community in the tunnels, but spirits overall remained high.
“They always come in when the music is getting good, and we could never tell if they are the police or the security we hired after the first time we got busted,” Datunnels said. “We always felt intrusions into our community and our spaces, but this is one step too far.”
In an X post, President Ron Daniels expressed the administration’s support for the plan, saying that “this will be a vital step to helping bridge the gap between students and the campus atmosphere.” He has declined further requests for comment at this moment.
To try to assuage the concerns of students such as Datunnels, President Daniels has assembled an administrative board to identify and address concerns facing the project and its effects, including displacement and impact to such an important piece of the University’s student life.
In its first annual meeting, with meetings to be held on a more regular basis to meet the demands of this rapidly evolving situation, the head of the board, Beau Racketzy, estimated that clearance to open ground on construction can be obtained by the end of the year as long as the report on impact is processed quickly. The construction, which will impact Wyman Quad and the paths near Levering Hall, is estimated to be completed in 2030, not accounting for delays in construction that are currently projected to push completion to 2047.
“We are really trying to think about the next generation of students,” Racketzy said in a response to comments. “We know this is an urgent issue for our students, so we are moving as fast as we can.”
Despite JHPD patrols and crackdowns within the tunnels, some feel like this is the fight of their lifetimes. Student Ashie Heard reflected on the news in an interview with The News-Letter.
“I usually spend all my time in Brody trying to find somewhere to sit and study. I didn’t even hear about this issue until just a few days ago,” Heard said. “But now I hear about what they are trying to do, it is just not right.”
Students like Heard are going to a rumored “Save Our Tunnels” party held within the tunnel at an undisclosed time at the moment, despite clear objections from campus administration, voicing fears of the dangers of the unrenovated tunnels and the swarm of police in there.
“Just let us do this,” Klarem Oort, a member of the administrative board overseeing the project, told The News-Letter. “It’ll be done after they all graduate, but just think of the children!”
