Introducing Campus Files Season 2

Introducing Campus Files Season 2

Author: Audacy March 10, 2026 Duration: 1:41
Last season, we brought you 35 stories from American colleges. Stories of drug rings, fraternity hazing, stolen body parts, campus cults and more. And now, Campus Files is coming back for another season, at a time when universities are all over the news. Starting March 11th, we’ll have a new episode every week. Listen to and follow Campus Files wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Behind the ivy-covered walls and storied traditions, American universities guard a hidden world of controversy and concealed truths. Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities, from Audacy, pulls back the curtain on this unsettling reality. This isn't about lecture halls or football games; it's a deep, documentary-style investigation into the systems that fail and the dark deeds that thrive in places of supposed higher learning. Each installment serves as a standalone case file, meticulously examining the gritty details of a different institutional breakdown. You'll hear about the mechanisms of rigged admissions that privilege wealth over merit, the toxic cultures behind tragic hazing rituals, and the multimillion-dollar corruption that can upend collegiate sports. The podcast also grapples with the intense battles over free speech and ideology that define modern campus life. Rather than accepting the glossy brochure version, this series acts as your essential, unofficial tour through the shadows. It connects the dots between reputation, power, and the very human costs when scandals erupt. For anyone fascinated by true crime, social structures, or the complex mythology of college itself, this podcast offers a compelling and often unsettling listen.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 76

Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
Podcast Episodes
Weed in the Garden of Academe [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:02
Half of all college students and 73% of social fraternity members experience hazing. As it turns out, hazing has a long and deadly history in the United States and we know about this history in large part because of the…
USC's Drug Peddling Dean [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:49
In 2016, a woman overdosed on meth in a Pasadena hotel room. The man who provided the drugs: Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine. As one reporter at the Los Angeles Times fought to expose the…
Food Science? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:12
Cornell's Brian Wansink was at the top of his field, renowned for translating behavioral science into practical tips for improving eating habits. He famously popularized the notion that we tend to eat more when served in…
Trojan Course [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:03
In 2010, USC launched a fully remote version of its prestigious social work program. According to USC’s website, it offered the same professors, curriculum, and career services as the on-campus version. However, those wh…
Carolina Way - Part 3 | Carolina's Favorite Son [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:48
Holden Thorp was the chancellor of UNC when the university faced the worst atheltic scandal in its history. This week, he opens up about his experience—revealing what he knew, what he kept hidden from the public, and wha…
Dogmatic Slumber [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:57
In 2019, after nearly two decades at Duke University, one of its most popular—and controversial—professors was abruptly ousted. For the first time, Evan Charney reveals the untold story behind his departure. For a transc…
Dissension in the Ranks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:56
In 2022, Columbia University math professor Michael Thaddeus published a 21-page analysis accusing his own university of submitting flawed data to U.S. News & World Report. His findings would cause the entire academic wo…
The Party Never Ends [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:16
In 2016, police uncovered a multi-million dollar drug ring operated by fraternity brothers at the College of Charleston. The police report reads like a Breaking Bad episode, complete with firearms, grenade launchers, and…
The Hazing of George Desdunes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:42
In February 2011, George Desdunes was kidnapped by freshman pledges as part of a hazing ritual. He was blindfolded, tied up, and made to consume a lethal amount of alcohol. When George's mother stepped in to get answers,…
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:01
In 2023, Joe Gow, the long-serving chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, began posting pornographic videos featuring him and his wife, revealing a double life the couple had long kept hidden. This revelati…