Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities

By day, they were MIT students and working professionals. By night, they played blackjack at casinos. Using mathematics and card counting, the MIT blackjack team found a way to beat the house and walk away with huge sums of money. They were good at it. Maybe too good. And before long, the casinos started to catch on.

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

In the 90s construction crews discovered a small collection of leftover World War I era munitions buried in the ground. This discovery triggered a massive and ever expanding search. The situation was made far more terrifying when researchers learned of a pit where a massive stockpile of chemical weapons was buried. Back in World War I, the Army crews burying these materials nicknamed this spot “The Pit of Hades”, calling it the most feared and respected place on the grounds. But the trouble was, nobody alive knew where this pit was buried.

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

In the mid-20th century, Americans were paying closer attention to nutrition. MIT researchers wanted to determine the nutritional value of oats. But their study required children to eat oatmeal containing radioactive tracers. They found those children inside a state institution.

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

The early 2000s on American University, was a time of political intrigue... at least in student government. Eventually, one former student government member decided he'd had enough and created his own student paper named after the president of the University, Ben Ladner. As a result, he'd end up in court, in an alteraction with secret service, and more.

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts

Madeline had always loved animals, so she was thrilled to land a job at UW’s primate lab. But what she discovered inside was nothing like she expected -- and ultimately drove her to fight for greater accountability in scientific research.

For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts