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Campus Files

Harvard's Secret Court

Campus Files

Audacy

Society & Culture, History, True Crime, Documentary

4.67.2K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2002, Harvard undergraduate student Amit Paley stumbled upon a strange entry in Harvard’s archival database: “Secret Court Files, 1920.” This discovery unearthed a dark and little-known chapter in Harvard’s history—a secret disciplinary tribunal convened in 1920 to investigate and punish students for being “guilty” of homosexuality. Read Amit's original reporting: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/21/the-secret-court-of-1920-at/ For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:36.3

and above all true.

0:46.3

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0:51.1

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0:55.3

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1:01.2

This episode contains reference to suicide.

1:04.9

Please take care while listening.

1:20.9

In May 1920, a small-town paper in Massachusetts ran a story about the death of a Harvard student named Cyril.

1:29.3

Cyril's death was attributed to accidental suffocation, but in truth, Cyril had committed suicide. His death and the moments leading up to it,

1:31.3

kick-started a series of events at Harvard

1:34.3

that would lead to the creation of a secret court,

1:37.3

the expulsion of multiple students,

1:39.3

and ultimately, another tragic death.

1:43.3

For nearly a century, these events remained hidden

1:46.9

until a reporter for the Harvard Crimson

1:49.2

stumbled upon an archive mysteriously labeled

...

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