Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities

In January 2011, a camera hidden in a seemingly innocuous closet on the campus of MIT captured a few minutes of silent but fateful footage. For his actions captured on video, the young tech prodigy and activist, Aaron Swartz, faced up to 35 years in prison, fines totalling a million dollars, the loss of his right to vote, and the likely end of his promising career. Two years later, both MIT, and federal prosecutors would come under fire when Aaron Swartz died by suicide. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Wake Forest players couldn’t seem to get down the football field. Even their trick plays weren’t working. Some remember thinking it felt like the other team had access to their playbook. It would take years, and an investigation, to confirm that suspicion wasn’t so far-fetched. There had, in fact, been a leak from inside the program. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

One morning in Lubbock, an isolated town in northwest, Texas. The funeral go-ers are gathering outside one of Texas Tech’s Administration buildings. Behind them, University Regents file into the building, preparing for a Board of Regents meeting. The mourners are protesting the ""end of academic freedom"" at Texas Tech. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

By day, they were MIT students and working professionals. By night, they played blackjack at casinos. Using mathematics and card counting, the MIT blackjack team found a way to beat the house and walk away with huge sums of money. They were good at it. Maybe too good. And before long, the casinos started to catch on. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

In the 90s construction crews discovered a small collection of leftover World War I era munitions buried in the ground. This discovery triggered a massive and ever expanding search. The situation was made far more terrifying when researchers learned of a pit where a massive stockpile of chemical weapons was buried. Back in World War I, the Army crews burying these materials nicknamed this spot “The Pit of Hades”, calling it the most feared and respected place on the grounds. But the trouble was, nobody alive knew where this pit was buried. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

In the mid-20th century, Americans were paying closer attention to nutrition. MIT researchers wanted to determine the nutritional value of oats. But their study required children to eat oatmeal containing radioactive tracers. They found those children inside a state institution. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

The early 2000s on American University, was a time of political intrigue... at least in student government. Eventually, one former student government member decided he'd had enough and created his own student paper named after the president of the University, Ben Ladner. As a result, he'd end up in court, in an alteraction with secret service, and more. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Madeline had always loved animals, so she was thrilled to land a job at UW’s primate lab. But what she discovered inside was nothing like she expected -- and ultimately drove her to fight for greater accountability in scientific research. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one researcher is credited with creating the very first chatbot, a technology that, almost exactly 60 years in the future, would explode into the mainstream, alter the global economy, and raise significant questions about the future. It turns out, that man, Joseph Weizenbaum, would also become one of its earliest critics, seeing it as deceptive, playing upon our natural vulnerabilities. Read Jeff's book, Inventing ELIZA: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262052481/inventing-eliza/ Try ELIZA online: https://anthay.github.io/eliza.html For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

The Karolinska Institute is one of the world’s leading medical universities. When it hired Paolo Macchiarini, it saw a surgeon with a groundbreaking new procedure. But the university ignored warning signs, and patients paid the price. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

After Mario Savio's historic speech, students occupy Sproul Hall, leading to the largest non-war time arrest in US history to that point. The response from administration begins to turn the tide, but it all comes down to the Regents and the facutly. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

For decades the entire University of California system had strict rules prohibiting all forms of political speech on campus. But after Freedom Summer, a group of students from across the political spectrum decide it's time to force change. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Academics were in classrooms, at conferences, on stages around the world, defending the safety of GMOs and herbicides. They looked independent. They weren't. Some of the most credentialed voices in agricultural science were quietly collaborating with Monsanto, taking money from the company whose products they were defending. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Over the last decade, college football has undergone a dramatic transformation. Universities now have a growing financial stake in the game, blurring the line between college athletics and professional sports. Few people embody that shift better than Lane Kiffin. Read Nicole Auerbach’s work: http://www.nauerbach.com/about For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Baylor is the largest Baptist university in the country. The rules there revolve around scripture. For most of its history, the school banned premarital sex. That meant no policy on sexual assault. No recourse for survivors. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

In 1997, a young out of town reporter moves from Los Angeles to Minnesota to cover the University of Minnesota Gophers. That year, the Gophers basketball team had made it to the NCAA Final Four in a stunning show of force. Two years later, the reporter broke a story that would throw the state into an uproad, and wipe that Final Four appearance from the history books. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

AI has arrived on college campuses, and professors and administrators are racing to respond. But there’s no clear rulebook, and the stakes are high. At Ohio State, one professor believes many universities are getting the response all wrong. Read here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/colleges-ai-education-students/685039/ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/magazine/ai-higher-education-students-teachers.html And here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/students-ai-cheating-solutions_n_6a173aa3e4b062ca52d7e393?hp_auth_done=1#comments For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Speech on campus is the defining issue of higher education today. Many call for a return to the past when nearly anyone was received with respect. So, this week we look back to a moment in 1965 when the National Party of America, an openly fascist and anti-semitic political party was invited to speak at Reed College in Portland Oregon. Read Seth's writing: https://rightlandia.ghost.io/ For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Transylvania University houses one of the most valuable rare book collections in the country. In 2004, four college students decided to steal them. In broad daylight. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

"It’s the middle of a September night at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and two young men light themselves on fire. Both are later rushed to the hospital. The resulting investigation uncovers alleged hazing, and possible public corruption within the justice system. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts "