r/Purdue • u/ProfessionOk9015 • Jul 17 '26
Campus Photography💚 Grad on the engineering fountain
Idk who they are but I’d like to share these with them
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u/kittenconfidential Alumni Jul 17 '26
the fountain condom was installed in 2002 because people were getting injured walking over the high pressure water. i’m glad to see purdue grit making a comeback. expecting to see a bigger condom next year
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u/Nugler Jul 17 '26
In the summer of '89, a few weeks before classes started, our rental house had roots in the sewage pipes and we were unable to take a shower for about a week. My roommates and I went down to the fountain to take a shower. I can confirm the high pressure was not pleasant.
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u/nix206 Jul 17 '26
This seems totally normal for 89 and yet beyond outrageous by today’s standards.
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u/Wise-Parsnip5803 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Spring of 93 or 94 they had mud volleyball in the fields in front of the corec. There was a trail of mud down the sidewalk to the fountain that was then brown.Â
Edit. The mud volleyball was where Winifred Parker Hall is located now.Â
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u/Superdeathrobot CompE 2025, MS 2026 Jul 17 '26
Today I learned that wasn't part of the original design
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u/Eric848448 CS 2004 Jul 17 '26
They installed it after the jets threw a little kid hard enough to break her arm IIRC.
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u/kittenconfidential Alumni Jul 17 '26
yes. a kid was yeeted and the prophylactic was deployed post haste. much had been made about the loss of common sense and parental responsibility in the ensuing furor stoked by editorials in the excrement i mean exponent. mostly people were sad they could no longer use the bidet function
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u/OwnAwareness2787 Jul 20 '26
Yep, Engineering Fountain Condom installed over a decade later - proof that the world will eventually make a better idiot (parental units who can't be bothered to supervise their kids).Â
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u/PsychologicalMud917 You can’t spell slacker without SLA Jul 17 '26
The story I heard at the time was that the fountain condom was installed because the Exponent did a big story about the risk and then Purdue couldn’t deny the issue anymore. People were blaming the Exponent.
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u/Ok_Raisin_2519 Jul 17 '26
No, the brokern arm story was true. The University's reponse was to put fences around the fountain (both this one, and the Loeb fountain) so you couldn't go into them. The Exponent's editorials (and the alumni uproar) is what led to the condom compromise (and maybe improved, less slick surfaces at Loeb).
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u/JollyGreenBoiler Jul 17 '26
When did people start calling it the condom? Everyone called it The Muffler when I was there and it was originally installed.
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u/-Colon3- Jul 17 '26
The cylinder ought be harmed (removed)
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u/provider14 Jul 18 '26
You might want to look into why it was installed.
IIRC, a child ended up with an open fracture from being thrown into one of the concrete supports. The fountain was shut down completely until somebody came up with the bg cylinder.
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u/OwnAwareness2787 Jul 20 '26
It wasn't a problem for 10+ years. Parental supervision seemed to work fine, but the world will always find a way to make a better idiot (parent).
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u/EmergencyPatent9657 Jul 17 '26
That cylinder is so lame. You poor kids.
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u/jimohagan Lil' EE 1999 Jul 18 '26
Was so fun just to walk through it. Run through it. Sure, someone would slip and split their knees on the grate. But the student clinic was a short walk up the street.
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u/ukusulu Jul 18 '26
It was much more fun in '89