Margo Gray
Appearances
48 Hours
Stalking Shadows
College holds a mythic place in American culture, but there are stories you won't hear on the campus tours.
48 Hours
Stalking Shadows
I'm Margo Gray. On the new podcast, Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life and student protests. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast, available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Some would say, as the New York Times put it, he has a hobby of provoking his employer.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
The point, he says, is to push the administration to be more transparent in how it operates and to take accountability when it makes mistakes.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
That's exactly what happened after Thaddeus published his report, Silence from the Administration.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Thaddeus had a one-hour Zoom meeting with the president, provost, and several other faculty members.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
When he asked about specific figures, like the supposed $3 billion spent on instruction, he hit a wall. Most of his questions similarly went unanswered.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
the university couldn't bury its head in the sand forever. In July, US News announced that Columbia would be temporarily removed from the rankings until the release of the next year's list, meaning it was losing its coveted number two spot. That same summer, two Columbia students filed class action lawsuits against the university, accusing it of deceiving students by falsifying data.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Then, in the fall of 2022, U.S. News released its latest annual rankings. Columbia had plummeted from number two to number 18, the lowest ranking of any Ivy League school, and its worst position since first appearing on the list in 1988. Thaddeus wasn't happy about his school being embarrassed, but he did welcome the increased scrutiny of the rankings process.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Few investments feel as significant as choosing a college. It's a decision with long-term consequences, one that shapes careers, friendships, and future opportunities. With so much at stake, it's only natural to want to make the best possible choice. But with thousands of universities to consider, the decision is anything but easy.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Columbia's sharp drop highlighted just how easily the rankings could be manipulated. As Thaddeus told the New York Times, if any institution can drop from number two to number 18 in a single year, it just discredits the entire ranking system.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
But if the rankings are so flawed and more people are recognizing those flaws, why do they stick around? Thaddeus believes one reason is that they help prospective students feel more confident about their decisions.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Finally, and maybe most importantly, Thaddeus thinks the rankings persist because of what they offer to individual college applicants, students, and graduates.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In June 2023, about a year and a half after Thaddeus published his explosive findings, Columbia University announced that it would no longer participate in the US News and World Report college rankings, making it the first Ivy League institution to opt out. While U.S. News would still rank Columbia, it would now have to source data from elsewhere.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In its statement, Columbia explained, "...synthesizing data into a single U.S. News submission for its best college rankings does not adequately account for all of the factors that make our undergraduate programs exceptional." This decision raised concerns for U.S. News. Losing the cooperation of prestigious schools threatened to undermine its credibility and influence.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
But in the end, fears of a mass exodus never materialized. Elite institutions continued to participate, allowing the rankings to remain a dominant force in college admissions.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Campus Files is an Odyssey original podcast. This episode was written and reported by Margo Gray. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont, Elliot Adler, and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprungkaiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed, and mastered by Chris Basil and Andy Jaskiewicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss-Berman, J.D.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Crowley, Leah Reese-Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hillary Shuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman, and Hilary Van Ornum. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davey Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to us at campusfilespod at gmail.com.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In 1983, US News and World Report stepped in to fill the void, releasing its first ever ranking of the best colleges. The methodology was rudimentary, to say the least. The magazine sent a survey to university presidents, asking them to name up to 10 schools they believed offered the best undergraduate education. U.S.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
News then tallied the votes and published the results, declaring Stanford the best national university and Amherst the best national liberal arts college.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
The rankings quickly became a lifeline for the struggling US News and World Report magazine. When schools like Amherst boasted about their top spot, it turned into free advertising for US News. And the editors realized they could attract even more attention by making their methodology seem more sophisticated. They began sending out lengthy questionnaires to colleges
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
asking for a range of statistics, things like graduation rates and the average SAT scores of enrolled students.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
US News and World Report had just named Columbia the second best university in the country, right behind Princeton and tied with Harvard. But just as Columbia's new freshman class settled into campus, a shocking revelation surfaced. Their university admitted that it had cheated its way to the top. I'm Margo Gray.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Based on all these different statistics, U.S. News then had to create a formula to measure the quality of an institution.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In other words, US News had to decide which factors define the quality of an institution and how much each of those factors should matter. For example, if a school has a top tier engineering department, but a subpar humanities program, or has a massive endowment, but limited campus space, how should all of that be weighed?
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
As if assessing the quality of a single institution wasn't challenging enough, U.S. News set out to rank more than 1,400 schools against one another, lining them up on a single scale from best to worst.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
So was US News up to the Herculean task? Well, in 1997, the magazine hired an outside consultancy to review its ranking methodology, and the feedback wasn't exactly glowing. The consultancy concluded, the principal weakness of the current approach is that the weights used to combine the various measures into an overall rating lack any defensible, empirical, or theoretical basis.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In simpler terms, the magazine's supposedly scientific formula was largely arbitrary. But that didn't stop US News. Instead, that same year, the magazine blasted out its rankings online for the first time.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
With each year, the rankings reached larger and larger audiences, shaping opinions not just across the US, but across the world. And the rankings proved to have real-world consequences. Studies have shown that a school's ranking can directly impact application numbers, yield rates, and even the average standardized test scores of incoming students.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
So university administrators, whatever their personal feelings on the rankings, have a strong incentive to climb the list.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Penn Law didn't just pay attention to the rankings. They adapted their admissions process in a deliberate attempt to improve their standing.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In 2022, Columbia University celebrated its most competitive admission cycle to date. Over 40,000 students applied for undergraduate spots and fewer than 6% made the cut. The reason for this unprecedented surge might've had something to do with the school's most recent accolade.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
This week on Campus Files, we explore the extraordinary measures that universities will take to climb the college rankings. Think about the last time you bought something. A vacuum cleaner, a mattress, maybe a water bottle. Chances are you did a little research, sifted through brands, and tried to find the best option out there.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
It's worth pausing to acknowledge how shocking it is that one of the country's most prestigious law schools adjusted its admissions process based on a single magazine's ranking metrics. But Penn Law is hardly alone.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
But there's an even quicker way to move up the ladder. Misreport the data to U.S. News and World Report. And that's exactly what Columbia University did.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In 2021, Columbia University had big news to celebrate. For the past decade, US News and World Report had ranked the university at number four or number five. But this year, Columbia climbed to the coveted number two spot out of nearly 400 national universities.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
The university's dean of undergraduate admissions enthusiastically wrote on the university website, Columbia is proud of all the factors that led U.S. News & World Report to see us as one of the best universities in the world. We have been working on every level to support our students and are proud to be recognized for this.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
This is Michael Thaddeus. He's been a math professor at Columbia since 1998.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
If Thaddeus knows two things very well, it's Columbia University and numbers. And the number two ranking wasn't sitting right with him.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Thaddeus wanted to understand what had driven Columbia's rise in the rankings. So he subscribed to US News and World Report to access the specific data Columbia had self-reported. For instance, Columbia claimed that 82.5% of its courses had fewer than 20 students, meaning a large majority of courses were seminar style.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
From his experience of more than two decades at the school, Thaddeus was skeptical. So he set about calculating the percentage himself.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Thaddeus found that the real number was far lower than the reported 82.5%. The correct figure was below 67%. As he kept crunching the numbers, more discrepancies emerged. Columbia had reported a student to faculty ratio of six to one, but Thaddeus' calculations suggested it was closer to 11 to one. Then came one of the most startling claims.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Columbia reported spending over $3 billion on instruction and teaching related expenses per year. That would mean, according to his calculations, that Columbia was spending more than $100,000 per student annually.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
How did Columbia arrive at this $3 billion figure? Thaddeus has a theory.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
The list of discrepancies continued to grow. Graduation rates, the percentage of full-time faculty, and the share of professors with PhDs or other terminal degrees, all misrepresented by Columbia. Eventually, Thaddeus compiled his findings into a 21-page report. At the very top, he included a quote from Colin Diver, who we heard from earlier in the episode.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Rankings create powerful incentives to manipulate data and distort institutional behavior.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Instead, Thaddeus decided to upload the analysis to his website. And in February 2022, he hit submit. In February 2022, Michael Thaddeus published his findings under the title, An Investigation of the Facts Behind Columbia's US News Ranking.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
But he was wrong. Very few people took notice. So Thaddeus had to reach out to the media himself. He contacted the student paper, the Columbia Daily Spectator.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
This is Colin Diver, author of Breaking Ranks, How the Rankings Industry Rules Higher Education and What to Do About It. He also served as the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and as president of Reed College.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
In March 2022, following the Columbia Daily Spectator coverage, national outlets began picking up the story. Publications like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
Campus Files
Dissension in the Ranks
Thaddeus suspects that the report attracted even more attention because he wasn't an outside whistleblower, but a tenured professor exposing issues at his own institution. For Thaddeus, this wasn't exactly new territory. He had a history of challenging Columbia's administration on a range of issues, from the presence of ROTC on campus to the mismanagement of the endowment.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, the suicide of a Harvard student triggers a secretive administrative tribunal so scandalous that Harvard spent decades trying to keep it hidden. Harvard University is a household name. Founded well before the Declaration of Independence, it holds a central place in American history and culture.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
One student, though, never learned of his expulsion. On June 11th, 1920, Eugene Cummings, a Harvard Dental School student and a subject of the court's inquiry, committed suicide by poison. Two Harvard Men Die Suddenly, read the headline of the Boston American on June 19th, 1920. Eugene Cummings' suicide was the second at Harvard in just one month.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The investigation that Harvard had pursued so aggressively and secretly was starting to receive attention. The article read in part,
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Harvard denied Eugene's story. In a private letter to the parents of one of the expelled students, the dean wrote, every effort has been made to prevent any knowledge of this affair from becoming public. While the university worked hard to suppress any publicity, it also expanded the scope of its punishment. Harvard sought to have Cyril's ex-lover and his coworker fired from their jobs as waiters.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
And in addition to expelling students from campus, the court directed the alumni office to place a note in each student's file, requiring that Harvard provide a negative response to any question about the reputation or academics of punished students. As a result of this directive, at least three students were denied admission to other universities.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Even after the court disbanded, the dean continued his campaign of punishment by personally outing each student to his family. In letters to parents, he described these students as guilty of behavior, quote, "...so unspeakably gross that the intimates of those who commit these acts become tainted."
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The devastating consequences of the court's investigation changed the lives of those it punished. The students carried the weight of that secret for the rest of their lives. And it wasn't until shortly after the last of the so-called guilty died that the story finally resurfaced.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The story could just have easily remained hidden. Everyone who had lived through it was gone. The only newspaper that had reported on Eugene's suicide had long since shut down. And Harvard administrators certainly weren't eager to publicize the story.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Limited and redacted access to the findings was finally granted after months of back and forth. Those findings were published in a two-part article titled, The Secret Court of 1920, and the revelation sent shockwaves across campus. The story made headlines in the Washington Post and in the New York Times.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Over the centuries, it's been celebrated for its triumphs and hailed as the birthplace of some of the world's most influential leaders. But like any institution of its stature, Harvard has chapters in its history it would prefer to keep hidden.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
And soon after, the Harvard Crimson ran an editorial calling on the university to issue posthumous degrees to the students it had punished. Harvard's president at the time, Larry Summers, responded to the controversy by saying, whatever attitudes may have been prevalent then, persecuting individuals on the basis of sexual orientation is abhorrent and an affront to the values of our university.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
We are a better and more just community today because those attitudes have changed as much as they have. As of yet, Harvard has declined to issue posthumous degrees. Most recently, in 2020, on the 100th anniversary of the Secret Court, a student-led group called the Secret Court 100 organized a series of events.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
During one of those events, Tim led a panel where he discussed the concept of the Harvard Man, the sharp, well-dressed, hyper-masculine ideal that defined the era. I asked him to elaborate on that idea.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Tim talks about the deeply entrenched contradictions within Harvard's culture, the tension between the idealized vision of the Harvard man and the reality that has always simmered just beneath the surface. Here's how he sees it.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
There's one more detail I want to share from what Amit uncovered in the secret court files. Earlier, you heard about an anonymous letter the court received, naming students tied to the parties in Perkins Hall. But there's another anonymous letter I haven't mentioned yet. Tucked inside it is a warning.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
at least 50 guilty students, most of whom completely escaped the court's scrutiny, would, quote, no doubt continue in this misconduct and spread the practice until it may get beyond you, unquote. The letter is full of homophobic language, but it also provides evidence that despite the court's efforts to suppress it, queer life at Harvard continued. Campus Files is an Odyssey original podcast.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
This episode was written and reported by Ian Mont. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont, Elliot Adler, and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprungkaiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed, and mastered by Chris Basil and Andy Jaskiewicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss-Berman, J.D.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Crowley, Leah Reese-Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hillary Shuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman, and Hilary Van Ornum. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davey Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to us at campusfilespod at gmail.com. College holds a mythic place in American culture.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Tim went to Harvard for undergrad in the early 1990s. He was back there as a professor in 2002 when one of those closely guarded secrets finally came to light, much to the administration's dismay, a student reporter who spent months fighting for access to an archive labeled Secret Court. That secret was uncovered by Amit.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
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.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
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.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
On Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast. Available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
When Harvard finally relented, Amit discovered records of a deeply invasive tribunal led by some of the university's most prominent administrators. This tribunal, known as the Secret Court, was convened after the suicide of Cyril Wilcox, whose tragic story we heard at the start of the episode.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Harry was a waiter at a Boston cafe, known to be a popular gathering spot for the city's gay community. Harry was eight years older than Cyril, but they hit it off right away. According to friends, the two were almost inseparable for months. But eventually, things fell apart. Cyril ended the relationship and Harry did not take it well.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
He was allegedly so distraught over the breakup that he threatened to out Cyril to Harvard administrators. On the night of May 13th, Cyril confided in his older brother about his relationship with Harry. By the next day, Cyril was dead, leaving his brother heartbroken. The story could very well have ended here, but a letter from a friend arrived for Cyril after he died.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The content of that letter was not only deeply personal, but also highly incriminating.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
One of the letters came from a classmate named Ernest, the son of a prominent state politician.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
This episode contains reference to suicide. Please take care while listening. In May 1920, a small town paper in Massachusetts ran a story about the death of a Harvard student named Cyril. Cyril's death was attributed to accidental suffocation. But in truth, Cyril had committed suicide.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The letter from Ernest spanned nine pages and revealed that Cyril had been part of a vibrant, though secretive, gay community at Harvard. Cyril's brother was shocked. He had long believed that Cyril had been coerced into the relationship. But this letter, and another that arrived soon after, painted a very different picture, that Cyril had been a willing, even eager participant.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
In the 1920s, sexuality was just beginning to be studied by social scientists. But for most people, sexual activity was still seen through a religious lens, with same-sex relationships considered sinful. Cyril's brother shared that view.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Just over a week after Cyril's death, his older brother showed up at the doorstep of Cyril's ex, Harry Dreyfuss. The details of their conversation remain unclear, but by the end of it, Cyril's brother had a list of allegedly gay Harvard students in hand, and Harry was bloodied and beaten in his own home.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Later that day, armed with letters and names, Cyril's brother went to meet with the dean of Harvard College. What he shared in that meeting led directly to the creation of the Secret Court, a tribunal made up of five influential Harvard administrators.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
In the following weeks, the court would orchestrate a secretive, invasive, and shockingly effective inquisition into the sexual lives of Harvard students. Those students who were unlucky enough to be caught up in it found their lives forever changed.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Two weeks after Cyril's death, Ernest, the author of the nine-page letter that had been intercepted and was now in the hands of the court, received a note from the dean of Harvard College.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Ernest was the son of a prominent Massachusetts politician. Any trouble at Harvard would lead to embarrassment for his family. So the risk of this summons was enormous.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
His death, and the moments leading up to it, kick-started a series of events at Harvard that would lead to the creation of a secret court, the expulsion of multiple students, and ultimately, another tragic death. For nearly a century, these events remained hidden until a reporter for the Harvard Crimson stumbled upon an archive mysteriously labeled Secret Court.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
From the court's perspective, leveling an accusation like this against any student carried risk, but the stakes were much higher when the student in question was the son of a respected politician. In other words, the burden of proof was high. The trouble was, Ernest seemed to be at the heart of it all.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The court knew from the letters that his dorm room was the central meeting point for this entire social circle. So, with commencement just weeks away, the court decided to pursue an intense investigation to secure the evidence they needed.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
The court gave the proctor three days to monitor Ernest's room, instructing him to report back with the names of everyone who visited.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
On deadline, a list of names was delivered, and it mostly matched the names from the two letters that Cyril's brother had submitted to the court. That same day, an anonymous letter arrived addressed to the court. The writer claimed to be a student with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Cyril's suicide.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Within 24 hours, Kenneth Day, who was mentioned in Ernest's letter, the Proctor's surveillance report, and the anonymous letter, became the first student summoned for interrogation. No transcripts from these interrogations remain, but notes and findings make it clear that the conversation was far from friendly.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Kenneth, the first student summoned for interrogation, was Cyril's freshman year roommate and also spent time in Ernest's dorm room. Though only sparse notes remain from the interrogation, it seems Kenneth quickly realized just how much the court already knew.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Adding to the pressure to cooperate was the fact that both of his parents were deceased, meaning he depended on relatives for financial support to attend Harvard. In the end, Kenneth confirmed the guilt of each student under investigation, including Ernest, and his testimony prompted the court to intensify its investigation.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
It's unclear exactly how many people were summoned in total, but the court was bold enough to call in two individuals completely unaffiliated with Harvard, Cyril's former lover, Harry, and one of Harry's coworkers. With both men, the court was able to extract additional information. Ultimately, the court felt confident enough to summon Ernest.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
To the outside world, Ernest appeared to be a respectable figure. He'd served in Harvard's unit of the Student Army Training Corps during World War I and had planned to attend Harvard Medical School after graduation. He also had a public heterosexual relationship with a woman in a nearby town.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
But by the time the court launched its investigation, his grades had slipped and he was placed on academic probation. A letter from his father helped keep his medical school hopes alive, but his future at Harvard was still on shaky ground. It's unclear whether Ernest had heard from friends about what was coming when he was called in by the court.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Upon arriving, he initially denied any involvement, but seemed to change his tune when he realized how much the court already knew. In an apparent attempt to save himself, he threw Cyril under the bus, claiming that Cyril had led both him and Kenneth, the first student questioned, astray. By the time the court finished its interrogations, it had gathered enough evidence to take action.
Campus Files
Harvard's Secret Court
Harvard punished 10 students, seven of whom were expelled and ordered to leave Cambridge immediately. Ernest was ordered to withdraw from Harvard and leave campus. Along with this directive, the Dean of Harvard sent him a note with a threat.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Back on campus, news of George's death had quickly spread through the fraternity house.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Later that morning, the Pledges all received a text telling them SAE had retained a lawyer and that none of them should speak to the police without a lawyer. So the SAE brothers and Pledges were prepared. They told investigators that George had been out partying that night before being kidnapped.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
They implied he'd already consumed a lot of alcohol and that anything that happened after the kidnapping was insignificant in comparison. But the girl George saw later that night told police he was not intoxicated at the time. The DA filed criminal charges against four students. But much to Marie's dismay, all four were later acquitted.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Doug was able to use the civil case to get access to evidence.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
The expert testimony contradicted what the pledges told police. If George were just casually drinking, like the fraternity claimed, the effects of the alcohol would build over time, enough for him to pass out before drinking nearly that much. The only way his BAC could have been so elevated was through force.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Marie never let being a single mother get in the way of giving George everything. She juggled two jobs, including working as a public health advisor. And her sacrifices allowed her to send George to Berkeley Carroll, a private school in Brooklyn.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Cornell also worked with Marie to create a memorial for George, which still stands in a prominent location on campus.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
In the years following George's death, incidents 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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
In the years since, Marie has spoken to various fraternities about George. It's her hope that what happened to him never happens again and that hazing will one day go away. As she says, brothers and sisters should help each other, not hurt each other.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Every year from 1959 to 2022, at least one student has died due to hazing, died by the hand of their brother, died while trying to join a club, leaving parents and family with a pain that endures.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
But through Doug, Marie has found some solace in a community of parents who share her experience.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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, Elliot Adler, and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprungkaiser and Lloyd Lockhart. College holds a mythic place in American culture.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
On Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast, available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Campus Files is edited, mixed, and mastered by Chris Basil and Andy Jaskiewicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss-Berman, J.D. Crowley, Leah Reese-Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hillary Shuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman, and Hilary Van Ornum.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
Original theme music by James Waterman and Davey Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to us at campusfilespod at gmail.com.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
In his freshman year, George decided to pledge a fraternity and received a bid from Sigma Alpha Epsilon, or SAE for short.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
This episode contains descriptions of violence and kidnapping. Please take care while listening. George Tedun was a sophomore at Cornell University in February, 2011. He was busy studying to become a doctor, but he still made time every week to call his mother, Marie, and every Friday, his godfather.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
On paper, pledging is meant to be a six to 10 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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
That's Doug Fehrberg. He's an attorney who specializes in fraternity misconduct.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
We don't know the specifics of the hazing George endured during his pledge process, 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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
And apparently, the pledge class during George's sophomore year didn't quite live up to those expectations.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
So a group of pledges banded together and hatched a plan, one that would put George directly in the crosshairs.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
On a Thursday night in February, George was out with his friends. He had a slice of pizza and some soda at a local restaurant. From there, George went to his girlfriend's apartment where he stayed until a little after two in the morning. As part of pledging, George's fraternity assigned pledges to act as on-call drivers, basically a free private Uber for members of SAE.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
A witness that night later said that George tried to run, but couldn't because his hands and feet were zip-tied.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
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, pixie sticks, chocolate powder, and large amounts of alcohol.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
The other SAE brother was forced to consume so many shots of vodka that he vomited in a trash bin after just 20 minutes.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, the hazing of George DeDune and a mother's fight for change.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
By the time the kidnappers finally arrived at the fraternity house, it was well past 3 a.m. 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 searching for a key or waking someone,
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
The kidnappers carried George to the frat house library, where they left him alone on the couch, his hands and feet still bound.
Campus Files
The Hazing of George Desdunes
On the morning of February 25, 2011, the cleaner called 911 around 7 a.m. When police and firefighters arrived, there wasn't a single fraternity brother in sight. Meanwhile, Marie went to work as usual that afternoon. But when she arrived, it quickly became clear that something was terribly wrong.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
That's Campus Files producer Elliot Adler. He's standing outside the home of Joe Gao, the former chancellor of University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Last week, you heard Joe's story, the popular, long-serving chancellor of a major UW campus who was fired for posting pornographic content of him and his wife online. We sent Elliot to dig deeper into the story. He'll take it from here.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
Campus Files is an Odyssey original podcast. This episode was written and reported by Elliot Adler. Campus Files is produced by Ian Mont, Elliot Adler, and me, Margo Gray. Our executive producers and story editors are Maddie Sprungkaiser and Lloyd Lockridge. Campus Files is edited, mixed, and mastered by Chris Basil and Andy Jaskiewicz. Special thanks to Jenna Weiss-Berman, J.D.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
Crowley, Leah Reese-Dennis, Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Kurt Courtney, Hillary Shuff, Sean Cherry, Laura Berman, and Hilary Van Ornum. Original theme music by James Waterman and Davey Sumner. If you have tips or story ideas, write to us at campusfilespod at gmail.com. College holds a mythic place in American culture.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
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.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
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.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
On Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast. Available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
Campus Files
Hot for Chancellor - Part 2
A heads up, this story contains references to sex and pornography and might not be appropriate for every listener. Previously on Campus Files. She's Carmen. And he's Joe.
The Commercial Break
Hit 'Em With The Helicopter
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.
The Commercial Break
Hit 'Em With The Helicopter
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.
The Commercial Break
Hit 'Em With The Helicopter
On Campus Files, we cover everything from rigged admissions to the drama of Greek life.
The Commercial Break
Hit 'Em With The Helicopter
Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast. Available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
The Commercial Break
Hit 'Em With The Helicopter
Yeah, do you have a dry? I'm doing dry January. I would love a dry Sauvignon Blanc.