For a campus that’s over a century old, there are plenty of secrets and surprises littered throughout that facilities staff have to work with, or in, every day. On this ride along with Brian Mast, I was allowed to get a glimpse into it all.

The whirring of fans and generators was the white noise that filled the Heating Plant on Tuesday morning, and Brian Mast, director of facilities, worked diligently on the bottom floor, tinkering with a pipe that was leaking water. 

At the end of the steep blue staircase, the leaking pipe had a black and yellow screwdriver wedged into the cap, where the water seeped through. 

The screwdriver and leaking pipe is meant to help drain water to the construction in front of the Leaf Raker.

The Heating Plant, complete with large red, green and blue pipes webbed throughout, plays an imperative part for campus heating and electricity, with a large diesel engine-looking generator at the top. This is also one of the original buildings of Goshen College. 

“Back in the day, there was a huge smokestack because it was coal-fired, everything was coal back then. So there was coal, big coal pits in here. And [they had to] shovel it to keep it going,” Mast said.  

Upon hopping into Mast’s golf cart, our next stop was Westlawn, or rather the front of it. 

On the way, we paid a visit to the construction site — full of water, two exposed pipes and James Miller, the systems contractor for facilities, standing just inside the crater-like hole resting his arms on the ridge. 

Upon starting the tour, he advised us to make a visit to “the dungeon of [the Administration building].” 

In my curiosity, and on this special tour, it seemed there was a high chance of getting a walk through the infamous tunnels under the GC buildings. Although there are underground tunnels for buildings like Westlawn, Admin and Visual Arts, they are not walkable, and not tall enough to stand in.

“And you know, there’s this myth that there’s tunnels that connect all the buildings underground,” Mast said. “It’s just not true. It’s not true.”

He said, “There’s some perimeter tunnels in [Westlawn], and those were all for steam.”

In front of the Westlawn building are manholes with a sewer full of waste and a vault that holds water. According to Mast, the sewer, which is lined in brick from the early 1900s, can overflow and clog. The first line of defense is systems.

“I think one of my biggest things is we’ve got a team of four guys that are systems and so they do plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling so they take care of those things,” Mast said. “Four guys for a campus with 17 major buildings. That’s a lot.”

“I mean, they’re doing stuff crawling around, you know, up to their ears in muck trying to make the campus a better place,” he said. “And that was one of my goals when I took this job.”

Our next stop was the attic of Admin. The attic was only large enough for both Mast and I to crawl or squat. Insulation lingered around, some spilling out from under the 120-year-old wooden beams.

The final stop was the Admin basement. Tucked in a room off the ground floor, in an undisclosed location, is a room with tiled floors and an exposed handle stuck to the ground, simulating a secret entryway toward the basement.

A small light illuminates the basement, creating ominous shadows that lead to a dark void in the corner.

“This is part of the mythic tunnel system,” Mast said. “You could probably crawl through but there’s also high voltage cable going through there, which would not be super great.”

At the end of the tour, standing outside the administration building, Mast talked about the “Class of 1902” and “Class of 1903” bricks etched into the Administration Building and the intriguing history of GC while also reflecting on the pride that comes from working in facilities.

“You know, I was at the Music Center for 19 years, and when I took this job — it’s the people who work in facilities, you don’t see the work they do unless there’s a problem, and I want people to understand how much work is being done by this group of people.”