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Audacy

College holds a mythic place in American culture, hailed as the best four years of your life and revered as a beacon of integrity and excellence. But behind the polished campus tours and glossy brochures lies a far more complicated reality. 
Each episode of Campus Files uncovers a new story, exploring everything from rigged admissions to sports scandals, free speech, and hazing. 
Consider this your unofficial campus tour.
Do you have tips or story ideas? 
Send us an email: campusfilespod@gmail.com‬.
For additional stories on scandals that have rocked American institutions, check out seasons 1-3 of Gangster Capitalism in this feed:
Season 1: The College Admissions Scandal
Season 2: The NRA
Season 3: Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University

Campus Files is an Audacy original podcast.

Gangster Capitalism

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

Bodies Upon The Gears | The Free Speech Movement of 1964 Part 1

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

Ghost Credits | Academia's Hidden Industry Ties

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

Missing Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin's Dramatic College Football Career

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

Above the Rules: Baylor's Sexual Assault Crisis

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

The Gophers Beat: The University of Minnesota Cheating Scandal

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

AI Apocalypse: What’s the Point of College?

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

When Fascists Were Welcome | The National Party of America at Reed College

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

Broad Daylight: The Transylvania Book Heist

"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"

Weather Pledges | Corruption and Hazing at the University of Tennessee

Pick up any history of women in higher education and you'll find sororities in a footnote, maybe a paragraph. But that's not the whole story. The first sororities weren't social clubs - they were academic lifelines for women. So how did that get forgotten?

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Sworn In: The Hidden History of American Sororities

In 2002, Harvard undergraduate student Amit Paley stumbled upon a strange entry in Harvard’s archival database: “Secret Court Files, 1920.”

This discovery unearthed a dark and little-known chapter in Harvard’s history—a secret disciplinary tribunal convened in 1920 to investigate and punish students for being “guilty” of homosexuality.

Read Amit's original reporting: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/21/the-secret-court-of-1920-at/

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Harvard's Secret Court

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