Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities

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"

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

In 2022, famous young entrepreneur and founder of the student financial aid startup Frank was charged with fraud and conspiracy, facing up to a 100 years in prison. How did this wunderkind turn into an alleged con-artist, and how did America's largest bank get duped? For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Poe Hall, an academic building on NC State’s campus, shut its doors abruptly. It later emerged that the building was contaminated with PCBs, a known carcinogen, and had been for decades. Faculty, staff, and former students say they raised alarms after developing cancer, only to be ignored. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

For the last decade at least, the question of free speech has been the defining issue of American higher education. One school set out to tackle those problems head on, but appears to have lost its way in the process, struggling to define itself even before opening its doors. Read Evan's piece: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/01/16/civil-war-university-of-austin-bari-weiss-00729688 For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

They were ambitious students at Cambridge University who went on to climb the ranks of British government and intelligence. But they had a secret. All the while, they were working for the Soviet Union. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

The story of the New College of Florida becoming a pawn in Ron Desantis' campaing for president, and what happens when a school is reshaped by force and against the will of students and faculty. For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts