The Hazing of George Desdunes

Summary

Campus Files: The Hazing of George Desdunes – Detailed Summary

Episode Title: The Hazing of George Desdunes
Release Date: March 12, 2025
Host/Author: Audacy
Podcast Description: 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.

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1. Introduction

Margo Gray opens the episode by setting the stage for a harrowing tale of hazing within a prestigious university fraternity. The focus is on George Desdunes, a dedicated student whose life was tragically cut short due to fraternity misconduct. The episode delves into the complexities of hazing, its impact on individuals and families, and the broader implications for college campuses across America.

2. George's Background and College Life

George Desdunes was a sophomore at Cornell University in February 2011, diligently studying to become a doctor. He was known for his academic excellence and active participation in various extracurricular activities, including being the captain of the soccer team, a member of the swim team, and the jazz band.

Marie Andre, George’s mother, shares insights into George's upbringing:

[02:07] Marie Andre: "George was a child who wanted to learn everything at a young age. He loves to read, loved math and science."

Raised by Marie alone after George's father passed away when George was two, she worked tirelessly to provide George with the best opportunities, sending him to Berkeley Carroll, a private school in Brooklyn.

3. Joining the Fraternity and Hazing Experience

Determined to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor, George set his sights on Cornell University. Upon his acceptance, he joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity, believing it to be a standard organizational commitment without realizing the extent of the pledging process.

Doug Fearberg, an attorney specializing in fraternity misconduct, explains:

[06:37] Doug Fearberg: "The brotherhood exerts extreme amount of control over the pledges and uses their interest in becoming a member to pressure them to engage in various activities that results in hazing traditions developing and continuing and becoming more and more dangerous."

Despite the grueling pledging process, George navigated his freshman year, securing friendships, study partners, and a room in SAE's prestigious Hillcrest house.

4. The Hazing Incident and George’s Death

In his sophomore year, George became entangled in a sinister fraternity tradition where pledges were expected to exert dominance over upperclassmen. The pledge class that year failed to meet these expectations, leading to increased pressure and ultimately, George's downfall.

Doug Fearberg details the incident:

[12:18] Doug Fearberg: "The identified pledge that was responsible for making sure that brothers were transported. Other pledges got in the car, all with the intent on responding to George, but rather than taking him back to the fraternity house to kidnap him and engage in the very thing that they were berated for not having done."

On a Thursday night in February 2011, after a night out, George called for a ride—a routine duty for SAE members. Instead of a safe return, he was kidnapped by other pledges who subjected him to a series of abusive rituals, including forced consumption of various concoctions and excessive alcohol. George was left unconscious in the fraternity house, where he later died from alcohol poisoning.

Marie Andre recounts her anguish upon learning of George's death:

[17:01] Marie Andre: "I saw two police officers and they told me they got a call from the police at Cornell to say that my son died in his sleep. And I said, no, that's not true. ... I lost my child."

5. Marie Andre's Grief and Fight for Justice

The immediate aftermath saw the fraternity attempting to cover up the incident by claiming George had died from casual drinking. Despite initial criminal charges against four students, all were acquitted, leaving Marie devastated and without closure.

Determined to seek justice, Marie connected with Doug Fearberg, who had extensive experience advocating for families affected by hazing. Together, they embarked on a legal battle to uncover the truth behind George's death.

Doug Fearberg emphasizes the struggle to reveal the reality:

[21:01] Doug Fearberg: "It took years of effort to punch through those lies, to get at the truth. By virtue of civil litigation, so that George's mother could understand the true circumstances that led to the death of her son and to hold them legally responsible."

6. Legal Battle and Reforms

Through persistent legal efforts, Fearberg and Marie obtained expert testimonies that contradicted the fraternity's narrative. Experts confirmed that George's high blood alcohol content could only have been achieved through forced consumption, not casual drinking.

As a result of the civil case, several policy changes were implemented:

• SAE Abolished the Pledging Process: Following another hazing-related death in 2014, SAE decided to eliminate pledging altogether.
• Cornell University Implemented Reforms: Introduction of live-in advisors, mandatory safety protocols, and the fraternity was forced to vacate its house.
• Memorial for George: Cornell collaborated with Marie to create a memorial plaque for George, emphasizing the consequences of hazing.

Doug Fearberg reflects on the systemic issues:

[25:35] Doug Fearberg: "I'm also extremely cynical about fraternities... it's disgusting to me that... they have not cleaned their own houses... their focus is... on how to structure the organization so that foreseen and anticipated risk of injury and death does not overtly affect them financially."

7. Legacy and Legislative Impact

Marie Andre's relentless pursuit of justice inspired a community of affected families, leading to significant legislative progress. In December 2024, President Biden signed the first-ever federal anti-hazing law. This legislation mandates:

• Documentation and Reporting: Colleges and universities must document and publicly report hazing incidents annually.
• Comprehensive Prevention Programs: Institutions are required to develop and enforce robust hazing prevention strategies.

Marie played a pivotal role in advocating for this law, sharing her story with lawmakers and communities to ensure no other family endures the pain she faced.

Doug Fearberg shares his emotional journey:

[31:53] Doug Fearberg: "When I first went to meet Marie... it's hard to describe the emotions... I know that was the circumstance of meeting Marie on her own turf and that I will never forget."

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Conclusion

"The Hazing of George Desdunes" is a poignant exploration of the dark underbelly of fraternity life in American colleges. Through George's story and Marie Andre's unwavering determination, Campus Files sheds light on the persistent issue of hazing, the failures of institutional oversight, and the ongoing fight for meaningful reforms. This episode not only honors George's memory but also serves as a call to action to ensure the safety and integrity of future students.

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Notable Quotes:

• [02:07] Marie Andre: "George was a child who wanted to learn everything at a young age. He loves to read, loved math and science."
• [12:18] Doug Fearberg: "The identified pledge that was responsible for making sure that brothers were transported... instead of taking him back to the fraternity house to kidnap him..."
• [17:01] Marie Andre: "I lost my child. Those kids, they get to go home."
• [25:35] Doug Fearberg: "I'm also extremely cynical about fraternities... they are focused... on how to structure the organization so that... risk of injury and death does not overtly affect them financially."

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Credits:

• Written and Reported by: Ian Mont
• Produced by: Ian Mont, Eliot Adler, and Margo Gray
• Executive Producers and Story Editors: Maddie Sprunkiser and Lloyd Lockridge
• Edited, Mixed, and Mastered by: Chris Basel and Andy Jaskowicz
• Theme Music by: James Waterman and Davey Sumner

For tips or story ideas, email [e-mail].

Transcript

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[Doug Fearberg]

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[Margo Gray]

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[Margo Gray]

This episode contains descriptions of violence and kidnapping. Please take care while listening. George Deun was a sophomore at Cornell University. In February 2011, he was busy studying to become a doctor. But every Friday, without fail, he took the time to call his mother, Marie.

[Marie Andre]

We always talk every week. This is what was important. So he can call me anytime. I said, call me as you are going to your dorm or as you're going to school to a class. This is the way he was. He never missed one Friday, except for that dreadful Friday.

[Doug Fearberg]

Margot.

[Margo Gray]

I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, the hazing of George to do and a mother's fight for change.

[Marie Andre]

George he was a child who wanted to learn everything at a young age. He loves to read, loved math and science.

[Margo Gray]

That's Marie. She moved to Brooklyn from Haiti, where she and George's father built a life together. But when George was just two years old, his father fell seriously ill and passed away within the year.

[Marie Andre]

And I remember he was 5 years old. One day he says to me, mommy, will I ever have a father? I said, you had a father. Your father was sick. Your father loved you very, very much. It's just unfortunately, you are sick.

[Margo Gray]

Marie never let being a single mother stand in the way of giving George the best life she could. She juggled three jobs, including working as a hospital aide and a counselor for people living with aids. Her sacrifices allowed her to send George to Berkeley Carroll, a private school in Brooklyn.

[Marie Andre]

He was the captain of the soccer team. He took part of the swim team and the jazz band. And that did not stop him from doing well in school as busy as it was for everything, he did do well and decided at the young age, he said, mom, I want to be a doctor. Which I was really proud of him.

[Margo Gray]

Once George set his sights on a career, his dream school quickly became clear.

[Marie Andre]

Cornell was his choice from the beginning. When he got the letter from Cornell and he took it, went to his room, closed the door, and when he opened it, I just heard a scream. And I went and I said, what's going on? Then I got accepted and I still can hear these screams. He was so happy because that was the school he wanted to go. And then when he found out they were going to give him other scholarships, it was to me, I was so happy.

[Margo Gray]

Cornell not only accepted George, but also offered him a generous scholarship. It was an easy decision for him to make, and Marie was overjoyed. As she always had, she focused on preparing him for life on his own.

[Marie Andre]

We spoke about drugs, we spoke about alcohol, we spoke about sex. I said to him, I know I'm not there, but please do not drink, because when you drink, you drink to get drunk. I said, just be careful and remember, because you have a goal, you cannot play with your life doing all those things.

[Margo Gray]

But there was one thing they never spoke about.

[Marie Andre]

As for the fraternity. I didn't know anything about the fraternity. This is not something that came in my mind at all. This is that one conversation that I didn't have with him. And then I said, that's the only thing. I didn't know anything. Because if I knew, I will ask questions, I will talk to him about it.

[Margo Gray]

In his freshman year, George decided to pledge a fraternity and received a bid from Sigma Alpha Epsilon, or SAE for short.

[Marie Andre]

He only told me about it after he did it when he came home in December, and he says to me, I'm one of the Wadana. And he explained to me, this is why he said, you see, I'm okay.

[Margo Gray]

As far as Marie knew, George joined SAE the way students join any organization, by simply signing up. She didn't know that fraternities were different and that George was enduring a grueling and often dangerous pledging process. On paper, pledging is meant to be a six to ten week process in which the pledge, the hopeful future brother, learns about the fraternity's history and values, while the fraternity gets to know the pledge. If it's a good fit, the pledge is accepted. But in reality, the process is much more brutal, exhausting, and at times even deadly.

[Doug Fearberg]

The brotherhood exerts extreme amount of control over the pledges and uses their interest in becoming a member to pressure them to engage in various activities that results in hazing traditions developing and continuing and becoming more and more dangerous.

[Margo Gray]

That's Doug Fearberg. He's an attorney who specializes in fraternity misconduct.

[Doug Fearberg]

18, 19 and 20 year olds, while they may be technically adults, they're often interested in demonstrating their power or authority over a pledge to see the level of their commitment. And so in many circumstances, we see that chapter members have developed practices that they insist that pledges engage in in order to show their true deep commitment to becoming a brother.

[Margo Gray]

We don't know the specifics of the hazing George endured during his pledge process, but but he made it through. And on the other side, he found friendship, study partners, and networking opportunities. He even secured a room in Hillcrest, the fraternity's impressive tudor style house. Pledging was behind him and there was no more proving himself. At least that's what he thought.

[Doug Fearberg]

And when George was a sophomore, the freshman intake class was berated for not turning some of that hazing towards the brotherhood, which apparently was something that was also a tradition whereby the freshman class would mete out some of the same punishment of sorts to the sophomores of the upperclassmen as a means of showing their own power. And that's the circumstance in the tradition that George got caught up in.

[Margo Gray]

When we think of hazing, we typically imagine the fraternity brothers targeting the younger pledges. But according to Doug, sometimes it works the other way around. The pledges are often expected to haze the brothers too. They have to prove that they can dish it out as much as they can take it. And apparently the pledge class during George's sophomore year didn't quite live up to those expectations.

[Doug Fearberg]

The pledge class underneath George were called into a lineup at the fraternity house. And many of the upperclassmen berated that pledge class for not striking back or pranking or hazing upper class members and were essentially called unworthy for not having done so.

[Margo Gray]

So a group of pledges banded together and hatched a plan. One that would put George directly in the crosshairs.

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[Marie Andre]

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[Margo Gray]

On a Thursday night in February, George was out with friends. They started at a bar and later George went to a girl's apartment where he stayed until just after 2am when he was ready to head home, he called one of the pledges for a ride. One of their many duties was being on call drivers for SAE members, basically a private Uber service, and George called.

[Doug Fearberg]

The identified pledge that was responsible for making sure that brothers were transported. Other pledges got in the car, all with the intent on responding to George, but rather than taking him back to the fraternity house to kidnap him and engage in the very thing that they were berated for not having done. And when the car showed up, George came out of his friend's house, walked to the car and was suddenly surprised because other pledges jumped out of the car, grabbed George and threw him in the back of the car and proceeded to tie his hands behind him and indicate to him that he had been kidnapped and they blindfolded him and took him to a separate location, an apartment for one of the pledges, took him into the apartment still blindfolded, still with his wrists bound, sat him on the floor, and then subjected him to a series of questions and rituals that if he answered anything wrong, they had concoctions for him to consume and alcohol that he was supposed to consume.

[Margo Gray]

One of the pledges would later claim that George could have been let go at any point if he just asked. But even if that were true, Doug says it oversimplifies the complicated situation George was facing.

[Doug Fearberg]

So suddenly, George was put in a position where he was involved in a ritual that had happened when he was pledging the fraternity, a ritual where there was the pressure of complying to some degree as a brother of the fraternity with a ritual of the fraternity being a good brother.

[Margo Gray]

Another SAE brother had also been kidnapped, bound and blindfolded alongside George. He would later recount some of what they were forced to consume. Hot sauce, strawberry syrup, Pixy sticks, chocolate powder, and large amounts of alcohol.

[Doug Fearberg]

Red solo cups were filled with alcohol. George still being blindfolded, George being ordered to consume what was in the solo cups.

[Margo Gray]

The other SAE brother was forced to consume so many shots of vodka that he vomited in a trash bin after just 20 minutes.

[Doug Fearberg]

And at some point in time, given the amount of alcohol that was poured for George and to be consumed, he could not stand up on his own or walk on his own. And the pledges decided then that they would carry George, or basically dragging on the ground to get into the car where they were going to take him back to the fraternity house and sort of as a memento, a prize, a token of success, dump him in the fraternity house as evidence that they had, in fact followed the orders or the commands or the implications of the brotherhood as they had been berated with the day or so earlier.

[Margo Gray]

By the time the kidnappers finally arrived at the fraternity house, it was well past 3am George was unconscious and unresponsive, so they had to carry him inside. They tried to leave him in his room, but George's roommate, fearful of being targeted himself, had locked the door. Instead of finding a key or waking someone, the kidnappers took George to the fraternity house library.

[Doug Fearberg]

And they carried George in and dumped him on a couch in the fraternity house, full visibility of others, and left him. From that point forward, no one checked on George. No one stayed with George. No one took any care of George. No one monitored his condition. No one did anything. And it wasn't until the janitor came by in the morning to clean the fraternity house, he checked on George, and George was dead in the fraternity house.

[Margo Gray]

On the morning of February 25, 2011, the cleaner called 911 around 7am when police and firefighters arrived, There wasn't a single fraternity brother in sight. Meanwhile, Marie went to work as usual that morning. But when she arrived, it quickly became clear that something was terribly wrong.

[Marie Andre]

I saw two police officers and they told me they got a call from the police at Cornell to say that my son died in his sleep. And I said, no, that's not true. I spoke to him yesterday. He's fine. And they just thought they couldn't look at me. And I think I fell on the floor and I was screaming. And then the next thing I know, they took me to the error and I still didn't know what happened.

[Margo Gray]

Back on campus, news of George's death had quickly spread through the fraternity house.

[Doug Fearberg]

What happened with the fraternity is they're all bound by oaths of secrecy and brotherhood and commitments to each other. Of watching your brother's back, rat out on your brother. So the brotherhood gathered and came up with a story to tell about how George might have consumed alcohol on his own to such a great extent, and that self consumption had resulted in his own death.

[Margo Gray]

Tragic as it was, later that morning, the pledges received a text from SAE telling them the fraternity had hired a lawyer and advising them not to speak to the police. Without one, the brothers and pledges had their story ready. They told investigators that George had been out partying on the night he was kidnapped, implying he was already heavily intoxicated. They suggested that whatever happened afterward was insignificant by comparison. But George's freshman roommate, who had been with him at the bar that night, gave a different account. He told police, I've known George for two years, and I've seen him intoxicated. He wasn't at all last night. The girl George had been with also confirmed he wasn't drunk. The DA filed criminal charges against four students, but to Marie's dismay, all four were later acquitted.

[Marie Andre]

Don't come and sing that song to me. Boys will be boys. I lost my child. Those kids, they get to go home. They get to be whoever they want to be. Well, my son wanted to be a doctor. He wanted to be a neurosurgeon. You just cut it up like that. And then what happened? Nothing. Nothing. And I have to take it like that? No. I lost my. My child. My one and only child. My good son. My beautiful son.

[Margo Gray]

After the criminal case fell apart, Marie was presented with another option, a family friend who had been supporting her offered to help find a lawyer. That's when she was introduced to Doug. By then, he'd already spent over a decade advocating for families in hazing cases across the country.

[Unknown Attorney]

As I was being trained as a trial attorney early on in my career, I picked up two cases for younger people. One was on behalf of a young man who was brutally hazed at the University of Michigan. I learned two things. One, that young people needed very good legal counsel, and that in the context of fraternities and sororities, that hazing was extremely widespread.

[Margo Gray]

Doug wasted no time on Marie's behalf. He filed a lawsuit against sae. His first objective was to uncover the truth of what happened that night.

[Doug Fearberg]

It took years of effort to punch through those lies, to get at the truth. By virtue of civil litigation, so that George's mother could understand the true circumstances that led to the death of her son and to hold them legally responsible.

[Margo Gray]

For their misconduct, Doug was able to use the civil case to get access to evidence.

[Doug Fearberg]

Also involved in the case was the retention of a forensic toxicologist and an emergency physician.

[Margo Gray]

The expert testimony contradicted the pledge's accounts. If George had been drinking casually, like you might at a bar, the effects would have built up gradually, causing him to pass out long before reaching such a high blood alcohol level. The only way his BAC could have been so elevated was through force.

[Doug Fearberg]

And the opinions of the experts in the case were that had anybody properly attended to George and taken him for the medical care he obviously needed, they would have been provided care that would have allowed him to survive unharmed.

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[Marie Andre]

It.

[Doug Fearberg]

Has been virtually every parent's wish that a lawsuit not just be about the money. And we understand that and strive in every one of these lawsuits to compel through the leverage gained in civil litigation Reforms Reforms to Make the Organization Safer.

[Margo Gray]

Uncovering the events of that night was just the first step. The ultimate goal was to push for policy changes at sae. But working with fraternities proved challenging since they operate under a unique and often opaque structure.

[Doug Fearberg]

The problem with that structure is that supreme power for determining decisions is vested in the undergraduate members. In the Constitution of SAE and in many other fraternities, significant policy changes in the organization can only be made at what they identify as being a convention.

[Margo Gray]

It's important to note that at the national level, SAE is led by adults, typically middle aged or older, and at the convention following George's death, SAE's national leadership introduced a constitutional amendment banning alcohol in all chapter houses.

[Doug Fearberg]

But they couldn't make that change unless taking it to the convention and submitting it for a vote. And they did that. It has to have the approval of the undergraduate members or it cannot be implemented. And it was turned down. And they did that two years later and it was turned down.

[Margo Gray]

This gets at one of the reasons fraternities remain so dangerous. Most are run from the bottom up, meaning undergraduates have to approve any major changes. But these same undergraduates, often through no fault of their own, are the least equipped to recognize or understand the risks. And Doug doesn't exactly have high hopes for change in the future.

[Doug Fearberg]

I'm also extremely cynical about fraternities, and I would say that that cynicism is just sort of realism. Because I have been down the road for many, many years and it is disgusting to me that when I have identified for you some of the structural problems, problems in fraternities, that the fraternities have not cleaned their own houses, cleaned their own organizations to make their own operations safe. Many of the fraternities are clickety clack and down the road exactly in the same way that they've been doing it for decades. And what they're most focused on is how to structure the organization so that foreseen and anticipated risk of injury and death does not overtly affect them financially. That's where their focus is from my view, and not on saving lives.

[Margo Gray]

In the end, Doug and Marie reached a confidential settlement with SAE which included a number of policy changes aimed at preventing another tragedy like George's. While SAE couldn't implement the proposal to go alcohol free in 2014, after another hazing related death, they abolished the pledging process altogether. At Cornell, the university president announced a series of fraternity wide policy changes, including the introduction of live in advisors. The university also forced SAE to vacate its house.

[Unknown Attorney]

What I would say about Cornell is that it was extremely receptive at the highest levels of their legal department. And it seemed to me at the time that they were extremely interested in understanding what some of the shortcomings might be in terms of how universities address the Greek issues.

[Margo Gray]

Cornell also worked with Marie to create a memorial for George, which still stands in a prominent location on campus.

[Marie Andre]

I have a big plaque for George. He did say hazing is the cause of death. And Cornell put it in the wall where all the students have to pass that wall to go sign up to become a brother or a sister to be part of the sorority. And they can really, I want them to think, because it's a crime, no parent should bury their children, not when they are healthy. No parent should send their kids to college and have to have the police come and tell them something like that. Sometimes I walk on the street and I still hear the police voice in my head.

[Margo Gray]

In the years following George's death, incidence of hazing at SAE appeared to decrease. But in 2019, a freshman member of SAE at UC Irvine died from alcohol poisoning, revealing that progress has been limited. And in 2022, SAE was reinstated at Cornell and allowed back in its original fraternity house.

[Marie Andre]

What do sisters do for sisters? We help each other. We talk.

[Margo Gray]

From 1959 to 2022, at least one student has died every year from hazing. These deaths left families and parents with a pain that endures.

[Marie Andre]

When it first happened, the humiliation that I went through because everybody looking at me like, you know, oh, he was drinking, he was drinking. As a mom, I felt like I felt him. Maybe there is something I didn't tell him, maybe there is something I forgot to prepare him. But George did exactly everything he was supposed to do. He called the shopping one coming to pick him up and they decided that because they were planning a kidnapping to make their big brother happy, that was the whole thing. And my poor child become dead.

[Margo Gray]

But through Doug, Marie has found some solace in a community of parents who share her experience.

[Marie Andre]

The first person who called me, she called me, but California, she said, marie, I'm sorry for what you went through. If you want to talk, I'm here for you. I'm sorry you joined our club.

[Margo Gray]

Marie and other families who have lost children to hazing recently achieved a major legislative victory. In December 2024, President Biden signed the first ever federal anti hazing law. As part of this legislation, colleges and universities will now be required to document and publicly report hazing incidents as part of their annual campus crime statistics. The amendment also mandates that institutions develop and enforce comprehensive hazing prevention programs. Marie, who met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to advocate for the law, shared her thoughts with us in a message. We are happy after so many years of going to D.C. and talking to senators and Congress, but the work has just started. The holidays are always hard. No matter how long it has been. The pain of the empty nest is always hard. As for Doug, he's continued to work with parents and families across the country, and before our call wrapped up, he wanted to underscore that the loss parents like Marie face is more than can ever be communicated in a news story or a podcast.

[Doug Fearberg]

When I first went to meet Marie in her apartment and where George was raised, it's hard to describe the emotions that come from going into someone's private world where it was evident that her life, George's life, was embedded in that location and unchanged since the time George had left to go to college. Embedded in a way that only parents who've suffered the most harm can understand. In that taking anything down, changing anything, moving something hurts in a way that's indescribable. And so from a personal experience, being taken through someone's apartment and seeing how much George meant and seeing how much of George was still there wasn't going to change. The bedroom wasn't going to change. I've been into families houses where the sheets haven't been changed because they still contain the smell of their child. And doing that in the context of meeting with a parent who's been lied to when asking questions in the midst of extreme trauma and who's troubled about what to do and is looking for answers and isn't sure about being strong enough to weather the storm to find those answers, but then commits to doing it. And so that was the circumstance of meeting Marie on her own turf and that I will never forget.

[Margo Gray]

Special thanks to Marie Andre for speaking with us about her son, George. Campus Files is an Odyssey Original Podcast this episode was written and reported by Ian Mont. 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 Davey Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to [e-mail] College holds a mythic place in American culture. It's often considered the best four years of your life and hailed as a beacon of integrity and excellence. But beyond the polished campus tours, there are stories you won't find in the admissions pamphlets.

[Doug Fearberg]

The higher ups are concerned about one thing, and that is avoiding scandal.

[Margo Gray]

It's no wonder that college campuses capture the nation's attention, especially in moments of upheaval. I'm Margo Gray. Each week on the Campus Files podcast, we bring you a new story.

[Marie Andre]

It was the biggest academic scandal in the history of college sports and probably.

[McAfee]

In the history of academia.

[Margo Gray]

On Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.

[Doug Fearberg]

A chancellor having a pornographic double life is an extremely rare case.

[Margo Gray]

Listen to and follow Campus Files an Odyssey original podcast, available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.