At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one researcher is credited with creating the very first chatbot, a technology that, almost exactly 60 years in the future, would explode into the mainstream, alter the global economy, and raise significant questions about the future. It turns out, that man, Joseph Weizenbaum, would also become one of its earliest critics, seeing it as deceptive, playing upon our natural vulnerabilities.

Read Jeff's book, Inventing ELIZA: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262052481/inventing-eliza/

Try ELIZA online: https://anthay.github.io/eliza.html

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

The Karolinska Institute is one of the world’s leading medical universities. When it hired Paolo Macchiarini, it saw a surgeon with a groundbreaking new procedure. But the university ignored warning signs, and patients paid the price.

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

After Mario Savio's historic speech, students occupy Sproul Hall, leading to the largest non-war time arrest in US history to that point. The response from administration begins to turn the tide, but it all comes down to the Regents and the facutly.

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

For decades the entire University of California system had strict rules prohibiting all forms of political speech on campus. But after Freedom Summer, a group of students from across the political spectrum decide it's time to force change.

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

Academics were in classrooms, at conferences, on stages around the world, defending the safety of GMOs and herbicides. They looked independent. They weren't. Some of the most credentialed voices in agricultural science were quietly collaborating with Monsanto, taking money from the company whose products they were defending.

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

Over the last decade, college football has undergone a dramatic transformation. Universities now have a growing financial stake in the game, blurring the line between college athletics and professional sports. Few people embody that shift better than Lane Kiffin. Read Nicole Auerbach’s work: http://www.nauerbach.com/about

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

Baylor is the largest Baptist university in the country. The rules there revolve around scripture. For most of its history, the school banned premarital sex. That meant no policy on sexual assault. No recourse for survivors.

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

In 1997, a young out of town reporter moves from Los Angeles to Minnesota to cover the University of Minnesota Gophers. That year, the Gophers basketball team had made it to the NCAA Final Four in a stunning show of force. Two years later, the reporter broke a story that would throw the state into an uproad, and wipe that Final Four appearance from the history books.

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

AI has arrived on college campuses, and professors and administrators are racing to respond. But there’s no clear rulebook, and the stakes are high. At Ohio State, one professor believes many universities are getting the response all wrong.

Read here: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/11/colleges-ai-education-students/685039/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/magazine/ai-higher-education-students-teachers.html

And here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/students-ai-cheating-solutions_n_6a173aa3e4b062ca52d7e393?hp_auth_done=1#comments

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

Speech on campus is the defining issue of higher education today. Many call for a return to the past when nearly anyone was received with respect. So, this week we look back to a moment in 1965 when the National Party of America, an openly fascist and anti-semitic political party was invited to speak at Reed College in Portland Oregon.

Read Seth's writing: https://rightlandia.ghost.io/

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

Transylvania University houses one of the most valuable rare book collections in the country. In 2004, four college students decided to steal them. In broad daylight.

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