The D

Summary

Campus Files: Episode "The D" - Detailed Summary

Release Date: June 18, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The D," Campus Files delves into a riveting financial scandal that shook Dartmouth College's oldest student newspaper, The D. Hosted by Audacy, this episode uncovers the layers of deceit, dedication, and resilience within the college's journalistic community.

Background on The D

Dartmouth College, nestled in Hanover, New Hampshire—a town known for its tranquility and low crime rates—hosts The D, the nation's oldest college newspaper founded in 1799. Over centuries, The D has been a cornerstone for campus news, covering everything from local community events to significant issues like the mental health crisis during COVID-19 and the Upper Valley housing shortage.

Kyle, a former editor-in-chief of The D and current Forbes reporter, states at [03:09] that The D was "the only authoritative source of information" on campus, emphasizing its vital role in shaping campus and local opinions through dedicated reporting.

Financial Struggles

Despite its influential position, The D began experiencing financial difficulties. Although advertising revenue saw a temporary boost during the 2020 Democratic primary—where billionaire Tom Steyer purchased numerous ad slots—the paper still operated at a deficit. As Kyle remarks at [06:13], "We joked that the D was just going to be purchased by Tom Steyer because he was just throwing money out the door. And so we had like, tons of money coming in for advertising. And then we still ran a deficit that year."

The deficit was managed by a separate business team led by a publisher, responsible for handling finances, including office space and printing costs.

Appointment of New Publisher Olivia

Amid ongoing financial woes, The D appointed a new publisher, Olivia, who was eager to rectify the paper's financial instability. Olivia, who had been with The D since her freshman year, approached her role with determination. At [07:03], Kyle describes Olivia as someone who "makes very clear to me in our first meeting that she knows that the business staff is not particularly good at their jobs, and she wants to fix things, and that's great."

Introducing Nicole Chambers

To assist with the financial aspects, Olivia worked closely with Nicole Chambers, the office manager with over a decade of experience. Nicole was responsible for bookkeeping, including reconciling bank statements and tracking payments. However, Olivia quickly noticed discrepancies and evasive behaviors when attempting to audit The D's finances.

Olivia's Auditing Efforts

Starting in the summer, Olivia initiated a comprehensive audit to uncover the financial mismanagement plaguing The D. Early signs of trouble emerged when she discovered that significant funds from advertisements had not been deposited as expected. As Mary Harris recounts at [13:19], "We had run an ad months ago, as in like four, five, six months, and we still have not collected money from them. That's weird."

When Olivia raised these concerns, Nicole often responded with convoluted explanations or diverted the conversation to personal matters, making the audit process frustrating and incomplete. For instance, at [14:12], Mary Harris describes Nicole's deflection: "Just yapping about like, well, last night my husband and his friends came over and we cooked them dinner... That's why I couldn't get this report out to you."

Discovery of Embezzlement

Persisting despite initial setbacks, Olivia eventually gained access to raw financial data. Upon reviewing bank statements with Kyle [20:15], they uncovered alarming personal expenditures made using The D's debit card, including $400 at Urban Outfitters and $500 at a restaurant on the Space Needle in Seattle.

Further investigation revealed that Nicole had been siphoning funds from The D's PayPal account, transferring approximately 70% of the funds—amounting to at least $223,000—into her personal account. Margo Gray highlights at [24:11], "We knew donors were important to us and that we got donations, but what we didn't see was all of the donations that were done on the website directly tied to Nicole Chambers' bank account."

Legal Proceedings

Despite presenting evidence to the Hanover Police Department, initial responses were inadequate due to the complex nature of digital banking fraud. The case was eventually escalated to the U.S. Attorney's office, where momentum was regained.

Nicole Chambers was indicted on charges of wire fraud spanning four years. During sentencing on September 16, 2024, Kyle delivered a poignant victim impact statement at [26:10]:

"Nicole, for years, you lied constantly and without restraint to students who were sincerely trying to make their community a better place. For all those years, your embezzlement was a complete and flagrant betrayal of every single one of those volunteers, every single one of those people who every single day poured their hearts into the Dartmouth out of a sense of duty and out of love for the essential craft of journalism."

The judge cited Nicole's failure to repay any of the stolen funds as a significant factor in the sentencing decision. Ultimately, Nicole was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Aftermath and Impact

Throughout the ordeal, The D maintained uninterrupted reporting, showcasing the resilience and commitment of its staff. Post-scandal, The D's finances have stabilized and even strengthened, ensuring its continued legacy.

Kyle praises Olivia's relentless efforts, stating at [27:52]:

"Olivia is the hero of this story. It really took a kick-ass hard driving. Would not take no for an answer person like Olivia to actually get to the bottom of this."

Mary Harris reflects on the positive changes, saying at [28:05]:

"I really feel happy knowing that. I think it made a really positive impact on the paper forever. People are running a paper that will exist for a long time in the future."

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Conclusion

"The D" episode of Campus Files masterfully narrates the unraveling of a financial scandal within Dartmouth College's student newspaper. Through dedicated journalism and unwavering determination, the team behind The D not only exposed and rectified significant financial misconduct but also reinforced the institution's integrity and commitment to excellence in reporting.

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For more stories on institutional scandals, explore seasons 1-3 of Gangster Capitalism. If you have tips or story ideas, email [e-mail].

Transcript

[Margo Gray]

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[Mary Harris]

The election has come and gone. Now we're in a new era. It can be easy to get discouraged, frustrated, but you can't afford not to pay attention. You need trustworthy, independent journalism to cut through the noise and hold power to account. I'm Mary Harris, host of What Next from Slate.com we are a daily news podcast with a kind of transparent, smart yet tongue in cheek analysis you can only find at Slate. Follow and listen to what Next wherever you get your podcasts.

[Margo Gray]

Dartmouth College is located in Hanover, New Hampshire. It's a quiet, picturesque town where not much happens. As you might imagine, crime rates are well below the national average.

[Kyle]

The Hanover Police Department works in one of the safest and wealthiest communities in New England. So like, no shade on the Hanover Police Department. But like a lot of what they do is managing dumb drunk students and like providing supplemental security at major events.

[Margo Gray]

But that changed in the fall of 2021 when Hanover Police were called in to investigate a serious case of financial fraud originating unexpectedly from the student newspaper.

[Kyle]

Generally, we just assumed that, like, printing the paper was expensive. We're still printing color. We're printing five days a week.

[Mary Harris]

That adds up.

[Kyle]

And so I think that was where we were assuming a lot of the numbers coming from. And we weren't really digging too much more into it because we had 100 stories to write.

[Margo Gray]

I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, a financial scandal unfolds at Dartmouth and the student paper suddenly finds itself at the center of the story.

[Kyle]

The Dartmouth or the D, as you're probably going to frequently hear me refer to it as is the independent student newspaper at Dartmouth College. I think in campus life it is safe to say the D is the only authoritative source of information.

[Margo Gray]

This is Kyle. He spent his entire undergraduate career writing for the Dartmouth. After graduating, he stuck with journalism, and today he writes for Forbes magazine.

[Kyle]

And I should clarify at this point that I am speaking in my capacity as a former editor in chief of the Dartmouth and not in my capacity as a Forbes reporter. I think Forbes does not want anything to do with this scandal. Understandably so.

[Margo Gray]

Founded way back in 1799, the Dartmouth is the oldest college newspaper in the country. And throughout its history, it's been a vital source of news for both the campus and the wider Hanover community.

[Kyle]

We were a local paper first and foremost, and there is a local paper that covers the Upper Valley in New Hampshire. It's called the Valley News. They're great, but they weren't Hanover specific and they weren't Dartmouth specifically. And so there was all these countless little stories that we covered that were related to the community, that were the way we made our impact. We were the first ones to know when a restaurant was closing. We were the first ones to know when there were professors leaving. We were the first one to know when there was an administrative change coming.

[Margo Gray]

The paper also tackled bigger stories that Kyle is especially proud of, like the mental health crisis on campus during COVID and the ongoing housing shortage in the Upper Valley.

[Kyle]

I think we moved campus and local opinion on that stuff a lot through our coverage. I think that was like a really a way we made a big difference.

[Margo Gray]

This kind of quality reporting took real dedication. The students at the D weren't paid. They gave their time freely and they gave a lot of it.

[Kyle]

It's a daily newspaper, so there's constantly new articles being published. And I think describing it as a full time job would have been an understatement.

[Margo Gray]

Kyle's hours ramped up even more when he became editor in chief his senior year.

[Kyle]

I was easily working like 5pm to 1am, four to five days a week. My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, she liked to joke that I was married to the Dartmouth and that she was my mistress. And I don't think that was an unfair comparison.

[Margo Gray]

The D ran independently from Dartmouth College, mostly bringing in money through alumni donations and advertisements. They used that to cover basic expenses like office space and printing. But lately the paper had been running a deficit, spending a lot more than it was bringing in.

[Kyle]

It wasn't Going down at a rate that would destroy the paper imminently. But it was definitely a subject of concern because at some point, you're going.

[Margo Gray]

To run out of money.

[Kyle]

And that was weird because advertising was actually doing somewhat well compared to the previous years.

[Margo Gray]

During the 2020 Democratic primary, for example, AD SAL were through the roof. Billionaire candidate Tom Steyer purchased every ad slot the D could sell.

[Kyle]

We joked that the d was just going to be purchased by Tom Steyer because he was just throwing money out the door. And so we had like, tons of money coming in for advertising. And then we still ran a deficit that year. And I remember talking to the upper level editors at the time because I was still a reporter, and I was like, what's going on? We were like, we don't really know. Because the editorial side didn't really manage the money. That wasn't our job.

[Margo Gray]

That responsibility fell to the paper's business team, a separate group of students led by a publisher. Just as the editor in chief oversaw the content of the paper, the publisher was in charge of the paper's finances.

[Kyle]

And so the constant refrain I heard from editors in chiefs before me was like, yeah, the publisher, we couldn't count on them to do anything. The business side, we couldn't count on them to do anything.

[Margo Gray]

So Kyle was excited when the d appointed a new publisher who was motivated to turn the business side around. Her name was Olivia.

[Kyle]

She makes very clear to me in our first meeting that she knows that the business staff is not particularly good at their jobs, and she wants to fix things, and that's great.

[Margo Gray]

Olivia had been with the D since her freshman year, so she was very familiar with the paper's financial struggles.

[Mary Harris]

A lot of the projects that I had been working on freshman through junior year were thinking about, like, why are we always in a deficit? How can we make more money? How long is the paper's Runway? Right? Like, it was very depressing. We couldn't have socials. Every kind of dollar we spent was doled out very reluctantly by the publisher.

[Margo Gray]

When Olivia took over as publisher, she set a clear goal to make the paper operationally profitable, essentially to earn enough to cover its expenses. But reaching that goal proved far more complicated than she ever anticipated, and for reasons she could never have predicted.

[Nicole Chambers]

Imagine if you could ask someone anything you wanted about their finances. How much do you make? Who paid for that fancy dinner? What did your house actually cost? On every episode of what we spend, a different guest opens up their wallets, opens up their lives, really, and tells us all about their finances. For One week they tell us everything they spend their money on.

[Kyle]

My son slammed like so. $6 for the blueberries in five minutes.

[Nicole Chambers]

This is a podcast about all the ways money comes into our lives and then leaves again, which of course we all have a lot of feelings about.

[Mary Harris]

I really want these things. I want to own a house, I want to have a child. But this morning I really wanted a coffee.

[Nicole Chambers]

Because whatever you are buying or not buying or saving or spending at the end of the day, money is always about more than your balance. I'm Courtney Harrell and this is what we spend, listen to and follow what we spend. An Odyssey original podcast available now. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Margo Gray]

The business side of the Dartmouth wasn't overly complex. Most of the revenue came from ads and donations, while expenses covered things like printing the paper and renting office space on campus. But there was still a lot Olivia didn't know.

[Mary Harris]

I was 21 years old. I think I took one accounting class in school, but other than that I was like a government and philosophy major, so did not do any business operations. I had done a summer internship in finance, but obviously not any real applications towards running a small business day to day.

[Margo Gray]

That's where Nicole Chambers came in. Nicole wasn't a student, but a middle aged woman who had worked as the office manager for over a decade. Nicole's main responsibility was to assist the publisher with the bookkeeping things like reconciling bank statements and tracking payments.

[Mary Harris]

Bookkeeping can be complex, especially without a background in accounting, which obviously most student publishers don't have. So the bulk of Nicole's job was doing the books, handling all money going out and marking it, and all money coming in.

[Margo Gray]

Nicole was also helpful because student leadership was always changing. Someone needed to provide continuity to manage relationships with advertisers, for example, and just have basic institutional knowledge.

[Mary Harris]

The knowledge of like, oh, this is our deliverer Hunter. He's been working with us for five years. He usually comes in on Thursday. Sometimes he's like 10 minutes late, but that's okay. And this is the route he does. Like nothing that was really documented anywhere. So that sort of person needed to exist to train and support the publisher who was supposed to be in charge of the business out of the paper every year.

[Margo Gray]

All of this was essential for the paper, but it required minimal effort from Nicole.

[Mary Harris]

It couldn't have amounted to more than five hours of work a week, even though we were paying her for a lot more than that. Like for the role. It's a very cushy role, right? Like she could work remotely, but she was getting, like, full time health and benefits.

[Margo Gray]

When Olivia became publisher, she still had never actually met Nicole in person. Nicole didn't come into the office much, so she reached out and the two met for coffee at Molly's, a classic Hanover spot. Olivia couldn't help but notice that Nicole seemed unusually nervous during their meeting.

[Mary Harris]

It was very much important to her that I like her, which is fine, and I appreciate that. I also wanted Nicole to like me. But if I was someone who had been at the paper for many years, very confident in my position, had been here in this position, talking to another young person many times, I don't think I would have driven two hours to come and, like, meet them at Molly's and offer to buy them a margarita in the middle of the day. Like, why are you trying so hard?

[Margo Gray]

Olivia found it strange that Nicole seemed more interested in hearing about her life than in discussing the paper and its operations.

[Mary Harris]

She didn't want to talk about. Okay, this is what you need to understand about the operations of the paper. How we get the paper out, how we collect bills from our clients and pay our vendors. It was anything but, really. It was like personal life. And I was a little bit taken aback because I was like, this is so weird that this woman is acting so friendly with me, so eager to meet me, super interested in my life.

[Margo Gray]

Nicole said she was particularly excited to work with Olivia because she'd had a bad experience with her previous publisher, Lydia.

[Mary Harris]

As a result of that, I never once thought about going to Lydia for help because I'd heard so frequently from Nicole about what a bad experience that was for her. In hindsight, I think she did that intentionally just to cut the connection, make sure all reliance is on Cole.

[Margo Gray]

Olivia spent the rest of the semester soaking up everything she could from Nicole. By summer, she was prepared to conduct a full audit of the paper's finances. But as she began digging into the numbers, strange discrepancies started to appear. One of the first red flags was the discovery that a significant amount of money hadn't been cashed.

[Mary Harris]

We had run an ad months ago, as in like four, five, six months, and we still have not collected money from them. That's weird. That's our bread and butter. Like after someone runs an ad, that money should be in our account. Like, what's up with that?

[Margo Gray]

When Olivia raised the issue, Nicole launched into a long, winding explanation about how the bills were paid, then brushed it off, telling her not to worry. It was a pattern that Olivia came to know well every time she Asked a question, she got the same evasive response.

[Mary Harris]

She would have this absurd, long winded answer that you didn't know how to decipher to understand other than saying like, okay, sounds good.

[Margo Gray]

At other times when Olivia asked for basic information, Nicole deflected by launching into stories about her personal life.

[Mary Harris]

Just yapping about like, well, last night my husband and his friends came over and we cooked them dinner. And that's why I couldn't get this report out to you. But now I'm going to get my nails done. But my car broke down. But maybe if I'm home by 2, I can pull it for you and we can talk about it. Also, I remember you saying you're going to Maine this weekend. I'm so excited for you. You work so hard. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Margo Gray]

Olivia was so fed up that she wasn't even sure the audit was worth sticking with.

[Mary Harris]

Why am I asking her these questions? She obviously knows more than me. I don't know if this is right, if I should push any harder. I should just like go back to being a student. What if she, like goes and tattles on me to the board saying that I'm making her roll really hard?

[Margo Gray]

Olivia says it was her dad who talked her down and convinced her not to give up on the audit. So she asked Nicole for access to the raw data.

[Mary Harris]

I was like, okay, Nicole, this obviously seems to be too much trouble for you. Just give me access to the QuickBooks.

[Margo Gray]

Nicole used QuickBooks to manage the paper's accounting records, but she was hesitant to share access. Whenever Olivia brought it up, Nicole would snap. At one point, she sent a text apologizing, saying, I'm sorry if I was a little unreasonable. When we talked about QuickBooks. That wasn't my intention. I was just really stressed and dealing with anxiety unrelated to the paper. I wasn't in a good place that week, but I'm doing better now. After weeks of back and forth like this, Nicole begrudgingly agreed to share access.

[Mary Harris]

But it was in a condensed format, which basically means, like all the descriptions, all of the details are kind of taken out and it's just like super high level. So you can't really get a lot of information out of it.

[Margo Gray]

What she could see didn't sit right. There were unusually high credit card charges, for one. So she decided to reach out to the paper's accountant who reviewed the financial statements every year.

[Mary Harris]

And she just kind of like blew me off, saying that for the example of the credit card expenses, that they were just like standard Reimbursements. I get the sense that they saw me as just like a know nothing student.

[Margo Gray]

Olivia was frustrated. It had taken far too long to get answers to basic questions. And when she did, they often didn't add up. As a result, she started the school year with no clearer picture of the paper's finances, only a growing list of grievances against Nicole.

[Mary Harris]

And at the time I was honestly thinking, this woman is really bad at her job. She's become really comfortable over the past decade or so just on having her Boss be a 21 year old who obviously has different priorities, which is to finish college, have fun, get good grades, and they kind of usually take her word for things. I had this gut dark feeling every time I talked to her. I was like, what is going on here? But I didn't think foul play, I just thought she was being lazy.

[Margo Gray]

But it turned out Nicole wasn't being lazy at all. She was very involved in the paper's finances, just not in a way that benefited the paper. Olivia was fed up. For months she'd been trying to get straightforward financial answers from Nicole with no luck. As you'll recall, when Nicole couldn't even answer her simplest questions, Olivia decided to take matters into her own hands. She requested the QuickBooks files. But what Nicole sent over was condensed and incomplete, far from enough to understand where the money was going. So Olivia started demanding access to the papers bank account.

[Mary Harris]

From the beginning, I could tell that that was going to be a big war between us. And never something she was comfortable with for the reasons of like, hey, it's my responsibility as someone who's been here for the past 12 years to make sure that the paper remains safe and totally understand that you're here, you're trying to make a difference. But for security reasons, I just can't give you access to that.

[Margo Gray]

The thing is, according to the paper's own bylaws, the publisher was entitled to access the credentials. So Olivia kept pressing.

[Mary Harris]

That's when really the incessant texting, calling over sharing of information started from Nicole as a diversion tactic. And one of the most recent emails, she went on this whole monologue about her mental health, about personal things going on in her life that have caused her to not respond quickly.

[Margo Gray]

Then out of the blue, Nicole sent an email with unexpected news. It was addressed to both Olivia and Kyle, the editor in chief we heard from earlier in the episode. In it, she announced her resignation.

[Mary Harris]

I was honestly just like, holy shit, okay. She gave the bank credentials in the email. This is good. This is what I Finally wanted, let me sign in online really quick. And they didn't work. Bank credentials didn't work. And I tried calling her and texting her, and it was very nice because I was like, I need this woman to help me. But no response.

[Margo Gray]

It was a major red flag, enough to send Olivia into crisis mode. She contacted the alumni board, which formally granted her access to the papers bank account. And the next day, she and Kyle went straight to the bank.

[Mary Harris]

So I had to skip class. Went in person. Kyle came. We explained our situation. The bank manager, she was like, what the hell is going on? She works in, like, sleepy town of Hanover Guarantee. It was the most excitement she had seen in years.

[Margo Gray]

The manager logged into the account and began printing out the bank statements. And right away, Kyle and Olivia were shocked.

[Mary Harris]

I just remember seeing, like, on the first sheet, like, $400 at Urban Outfitters. And I was like, damn, I would kill for a $400 shopping trip to Urban Outfitters.

[Kyle]

Right now we're going through and we're pointing out, like, oh, my God. Southwest Airlines, hotels across the country, Petsmart, Walmart. Oh, my God. She spent $500 at the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle. Like, just everything. She was using the debit card of the paper as a personal checking account.

[Margo Gray]

Other purchases included a bed frame, a cell signal booster, a green tea memory foam mattress, and an iPad. Air.

[Kyle]

Olivia and I skipped most of our classes this week. We spend our time just, like, trying to piece back together all of the operations of the paper.

[Mary Harris]

How do I keep running the paper? That was my priority. It was super stressful. My first thing was, okay, I need to get access to Nicole's email, because that's where she communicated with all of our vendors and all of the people who paid us for ads.

[Margo Gray]

But there was a problem. Nicole had been admin of the paper's entire Google suite, and she deleted the D's email account, her personal email account, and every file connected to them.

[Mary Harris]

So I didn't understand or know, like, who our customers were, if we owed them money or if they owed us money. I did a lot of calling of people all around campus, which is kind of embarrassing, picking up the phone and saying, like, hey, we had an incident. Everything's okay. I'll be your point of contact from now on, by the way. Like, do we owe any money to you? Like, are you good?

[Margo Gray]

Nicole had also wiped out access to the paper's financial accounts, like Amazon and Venmo. But eventually, Olivia managed to access the PayPal transaction history.

[Mary Harris]

If I hadn't gotten access to that PayPal, we would have never seen that flow of funds. So that was huge.

[Margo Gray]

It turned out the debit card purchases they'd seen on the bank statements were just the tip of the iceberg. Nicole had been siphoning thousands of dollars from the paper's PayPal account into her own. Roughly 70% of all PayPal funds ended up in her account. On one occasion, she transferred $6,000 to herself in a single day. This brought the scale of the fraud to a whole new level. A level Olivia says the local police were not equipped to handle.

[Mary Harris]

I was just, like, ripping my hair out because it was like the Hanover Police Department couldn't wrap their heads around this new banking model and the fact that funds could have been stolen through PayPal.

[Margo Gray]

After months of stagnation, the case was handed up to the district attorney's office. But still, there was no movement.

[Kyle]

So over a year, they sit on it, and nothing happens. Every couple weeks, Olivia and I are calling them, trying to figure out what's going on. And meanwhile, Olivia is following Nicole on her social media.

[Mary Harris]

So we would see her on the sailboat, on the beach, drinking pina coladas, presumably with money that she stole, and it sucked. All while this case is gaining no traction. I would take screenshots and send it to the detective and be like, hello. Like, are we doing anything here?

[Margo Gray]

Finally, the case was handed over to the U.S. attorney's office, and things started to move. What they ultimately uncovered was staggering. Nicole had stolen at least $223,000.

[Mary Harris]

I'll start by saying, like, I too, was surprised that we had that much money that would have allowed her to steal that quarter million dollars. We knew donors were important to us and that we got donations, but what we didn't see was all of the donations that were done on the website directly tied to Nicole Chambers bank account.

[Margo Gray]

In other words, while students believe the paper was barely scraping by, it was actually sitting on a surplus. $223,000 to be exact. And Olivia thinks the amount Nicole took might be even higher than that because she was smart.

[Mary Harris]

And there had been different PayPals, different Venmos in years past that had been, like, deleted or changed or lost. Her mess was part of her cleverness. And because of that, we will never fully know how much she took.

[Margo Gray]

As a result, Nicole was ultimately charged with theft spanning just four years. If she stole before that, we'll probably never know. Former office managers awaiting sentencing after embezzling money from the Dartmouth College student newspaper. Nicole's sentencing was scheduled for September 16, 2024, in Concord, New Hampshire. Both Olivia and Kyle were determined to attend in person.

[Kyle]

My wife and I moved to Seattle on September 15, 2024. So the day before. So I needed to make it Back to Concord, New Hampshire in less than 24 hours if I wanted to be there for the sentencing hearing. I took a red eye. I abandoned my wife in Washington. She was not happy about this. She's like, I'm back to being the mistress.

[Margo Gray]

It was also magazine close week at Forbes, the busiest and most chaotic time of the year. But that didn't stop Kyle.

[Kyle]

I desperately wanted to deliver the victim impact statement, which the US Attorneys had asked us to put together, me and Olivia. I wanted to deliver that in person. And I wanted to look Nicole in the eyes and tell her that she had done all this damage, tell her the harm that she had done. To the paper. To me and Olivia, sure, fine, whatever. But to the paper, that was the thing that mattered. And I wanted to look the judge in the eyes and explain why it was so important that Nicole get the sentence that we were recommending.

[Margo Gray]

Kyle did exactly that. He stood before the court and delivered a victim impact statement. Here's part of what he said. Nicole, for years, you lied constantly and without restraint to students who were sincerely trying to make their community a better place. For all those years, your embezzlement was a complete and flagrant betrayal of every single one of those volunteers, every single one of those people who every single day poured their hearts into the Dartmouth out of a sense of duty and out of love for the essential craft of journalism. Nicole didn't speak at all in the courtroom. Instead, her lawyer read her statement.

[Kyle]

The statement itself, it sounded really insincere because it was full of like very legalistic language. She said the words that she was sorry, but she never said the paper's name. She never said me or Olivia's name. She never acknowledged the crime directly. I think that made her look really unsympathetic. The second thing which the judge talked about and why she is making the verdict decision that she did, was that Nicole had not set aside a single dime to begin repaying the paper. Over the course of three years, 41.

[Margo Gray]

Year old Nicole Chambers pleaded guilty to.

[Mary Harris]

One count of wire fraud. And now the paper's former office manager has been sentenced to more than a year in prison.

[Margo Gray]

In the end, Nicole was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Throughout the entire saga, the Dartmouth never missed a single day of reporting. And today, after weathering the storm. Its finances are stronger than they've been in years.

[Kyle]

Olivia is the hero of this story. It really took a kick ass hard driving. Would not take no for an answer person like Olivia to actually get to the bottom of this.

[Mary Harris]

I really feel happy knowing that. I think it made a really positive impact on the paper forever. People are running a paper that will exist for a long time in the future. Future.

[Margo Gray]

Campus Files is an Odyssey Original Podcast. This episode was written and reported by Margo Gray. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont Eliot Adler and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprunkiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed and mastered by Chris Basel and Andy Jaskowicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss Berman, J.D. crowley, Leah Rhys, Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hilary Schuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman and Hilary Van Ornam. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davie Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to [e-mail].

[Mary Harris]

Let'S be honest.

[Kyle]

You've been portrayed as a monster. Yes. Evil.

[Nicole Chambers]

Maniacal.

[Margo Gray]

What's it like to interview a killer? 48 Hours is taking you inside what we've learned about the criminal mind. This is Killer Conversation. You can follow and listen to Killer Conversation on Tuesdays in the 48 Hours podcast feed on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.