Something Was Wrong

S25 Ep1: Something is Terribly Wrong

January 8, 2026

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • Season 25 of Something Was Wrong focuses on the systemic failures of universities to protect students from sexual violence, highlighting patterns of institutional self-protection over survivor support. 
  • Title IX, intended to prevent sex-based discrimination and violence in federally funded education, is often poorly understood by incoming students and its implementation frequently fails survivors. 
  • The Supreme Court ruling in *Cummings v. Premier Rehab* significantly limited survivors' ability to seek compensation for emotional distress in civil lawsuits under Title IX, representing a major setback for accountability outside of university processes. 
  • The survivor experienced dissociation during the assault, only snapping back into awareness after several minutes of physical violence, including being choked. 
  • The intervention of a ringing phone, belonging to the survivor's roommate, provided a critical, timely distraction that allowed the survivor to escape the immediate physical danger. 
  • The immediate aftermath involved the survivor seeking validation and support from her roommate, who explicitly named the event as an assault, leading the survivor to report the incident to the Resident Advisor (RA) who documented the event and encouraged follow-up. 

Segments

Podcast Sponsorship and Content Warning
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The episode opens with multiple advertisements before delivering a content warning for sexual and gender-based violence.
  • Summary: The initial segment features advertisements for Rocket Money and Raymour & Flanigan. Following the ads, the podcast issues a content warning for mature audiences regarding sexual, physical, and psychological violence. Listeners are directed to episode notes for full resources and sources.
Introduction to Campus Violence Crisis
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(00:02:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Sexual violence on college campuses is a pervasive crisis where institutional systems often prioritize self-protection over survivor safety.
  • Summary: Far too many students experience life-altering trauma on college campuses despite existing federal reforms and safeguards. Title IX offices, conduct boards, and administrators frequently protect institutions rather than survivors. This season investigates a pattern of minimization and re-traumatization faced by survivors.
Defining and Contextualizing Title IX
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(00:04:38)
  • Key Takeaway: Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education and requires schools to address sexual misconduct, but its protections are shaped by evolving regulations and court rulings.
  • Summary: Passed in 1972, Title IX forbids exclusion or discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs. Over time, it became the primary law requiring action against sexual harassment and assault if it affects educational access. The 2020 regulations introduced requirements like live hearings and cross-examination in collegiate misconduct cases.
Title IX Statistics and Survivor Impact
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(00:06:41)
  • Key Takeaway: College-aged students face significantly higher rates of sexual violence than the general population, yet over 90% of assaults go formally unreported.
  • Summary: Female college students aged 18-24 are three times more likely to experience sexual violence than women generally, and male students in that age range are 78% more likely to be victims of rape or sexual assault. The first months of college (the ‘red zone’) pose the highest risk for sexual assault. Survivors who report often face re-traumatization, while perpetrators frequently continue their education uninterrupted.
Impact of Cummings v. Premier Rehab
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(00:12:13)
  • Key Takeaway: The 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Cummings v. Premier Rehab eliminated the availability of emotional distress damages for survivors in Title IX civil lawsuits.
  • Summary: This ruling fundamentally changed the options available to survivors seeking accountability outside their university system. Since emotional harm is often the most significant impact of sexual violence, removing compensation for it reduces consequences for schools that fail to protect students. This shift is essential context for understanding the stakes of the season’s stories.
Introducing Survivor Luna and Family
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(00:09:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Survivor Luna chose her college for its strong nursing program and proximity to home, but her initial positive feelings about campus life were shattered by an assault.
  • Summary: Luna, an empathetic first-year nursing student, was excited for independence but experienced trauma just months into college. Her parents describe her as optimistic and a caregiver, influenced by her father’s disability and her mother’s nursing career. Luna initially felt safe at the school she chose, which was only 45 minutes from her supportive family.
Luna’s Initial College Adjustment
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(00:29:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Luna experienced significant homesickness and isolation as a small-town student adjusting to college life, relying on RA events to build a friend group.
  • Summary: The transition to college was highly emotional, involving a mental episode before moving and feeling isolated due to her small hometown background. She actively sought distraction to cope with missing her family and established a niche by attending RA-hosted events. She met her eventual roommate, Jamie, at one of these events, which helped her routine stabilize.
Introduction to Cody and Early Interactions
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(00:37:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Luna met Cody early in the semester; he presented as emotionally open, sensitive, and well-liked by her peers, leading to initial trust.
  • Summary: Luna first interacted with Cody on the third day of school, noting he was from Florida and seemed friendly. He was frequently around the women’s floor because he befriended many students there, often sharing personal details, including having three sisters. Luna and her friends felt comfortable around him because he seemed sensitive and ’like one of the girls.'
The Night of the Assault Begins
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(00:40:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Cody initiated romantic interest after a group hang-out, leading to a consensual first kiss, followed by intense texting over the weekend.
  • Summary: Cody invited Luna and her friend to his dorm room where he expressed strong feelings, culminating in a consensual kiss that night. Over the weekend while off campus, Cody texted Luna frequently, using affectionate language like ‘my love,’ which she found slightly too strong. They planned to watch a movie alone in his dorm room on Sunday night upon her return.
Escalation and Physical Assault
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(00:50:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Cody engineered isolation by having his roommate lock the door and then escalated physical contact aggressively after being rejected twice, culminating in choking.
  • Summary: Cody asked his roommate to lock the door, making Luna feel trapped in the dark room without her phone, which he had taken. After a second rejection of his advances, Cody violently pinned her arms, exposed her chest, and began biting her and penetrating her aggressively. When she resisted again, he choked her until she could not speak, demonstrating a calculated shift from charming acquaintance to physical attacker.
Escape and Immediate Aftermath
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(00:59:54)
  • Key Takeaway: The survivor utilized a roommate’s phone call as a strategic distraction to safely leave the assailant.
  • Summary: The survivor described being choked until unable to speak before kicking the assailant off and regaining control. A ringing phone, belonging to her roommate, provided a crucial opportunity to create a diversion. By putting the roommate on speakerphone, the survivor announced she had to leave immediately to help a friend, prompting the assailant to angrily allow her departure.
Roommate Confrontation and Injury Realization
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(01:08:08)
  • Key Takeaway: Physical evidence of injury, specifically unexpected bleeding, shocked the survivor out of dissociation and confirmed the assault’s severity.
  • Summary: Upon returning to her room, the roommate immediately recognized the survivor was harmed, prompting a detailed recounting of the assault while the survivor was crying and hyperventilating. The roommate encouraged the survivor to use the bathroom, where she discovered she was bleeding, an event not due for her period, which served as a stark, physical shock back into reality.
Reporting to Resident Advisor
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(01:02:31)
  • Key Takeaway: The roommate insisted on reporting the incident to the RA to create an official record, validating the survivor’s experience as an assault.
  • Summary: The roommate urged the survivor to report to the RA, emphasizing that even without further action, someone official needed to know it was an assault. The RA, whom the survivor already trusted due to prior contact about a broken heater, immediately took a full report and drafted an email to the Dean of Students/Title IX deputy. The RA scheduled a mandatory check-in for the next day to discuss pursuing formal action.
Post-Report Coping and Dissociation
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(01:04:18)
  • Key Takeaway: The survivor engaged in intense physical cleansing rituals post-report while remaining highly disassociated from the evening’s events.
  • Summary: After reporting, the survivor returned to her room and spent significant time scrubbing her skin in the shower, feeling horrible and attempting to physically remove the experience. She admitted to being so disassociated that she felt like a spectator watching herself move through the evening, indicating a strong desire not to ‘be herself’ at that moment.
Season Preview and System Critique
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(01:05:05)
  • Key Takeaway: The Title IX system is critiqued for producing more institutional betrayal and fewer accountability actions compared to the criminal justice system.
  • Summary: Future episodes will explore how institutional structures, such as those in competitive departments or athletic organizations, can foster environments where violence perpetration rates are higher. One preview highlights a lawsuit where a student claims her university failed to act because the alleged assailant was associated with another university, illustrating systemic failures.