Something Was Wrong

S25 Ep6: Humiliation Ritual

February 5, 2026

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  • Professor Cato Buss at the University of Central Oklahoma allegedly employed grooming tactics, including love-bombing, isolation, and exploiting vulnerabilities, to establish control over female students. 
  • The Meisner technique was reportedly weaponized by Cato as a tool for abuse, used to elicit intense, controlled emotions from students, leading to psychological harm. 
  • Cato systematically pitted female students against each other, fostering competition for his attention and opportunities, while simultaneously isolating victims like Miranda from supportive peers like Olivia and Rihanna. 
  • The survivor recounts an instance of being groped by Kato, immediately followed by a self-reassuring thought that he must have mistaken her for Lindsay, highlighting the immediate impact of perceived association with a favored person. 
  • Kato exhibited concerning behavior by persistently encouraging the survivor to attend an expensive study abroad trip, even offering to take out a loan for her, which the survivor now recognizes as a significant red flag. 
  • The survivor details the complex, often unspoken, relationship dynamics between Kato and Lindsay, noting that while their closeness was obvious to everyone, the relationship eventually deteriorated into open hostility within the department. 

Segments

Cato’s Grooming Tactics Revealed
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(00:03:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Cato initially presented as a paternal mentor, using charm and promises of opportunity to establish an early, intense connection with students like Miranda.
  • Summary: Cato was the first professor Miranda met, painting himself in a favorable light as the ‘coolest professor’ with intense training. He initiated contact via text expressing a desire to be close and work with her, which Miranda initially did not recognize as inappropriate. This early mentorship quickly escalated to exclusive outings, such as taking only Miranda and one other student to a play.
Rihanna’s Initial Recruitment and Red Flags
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(00:05:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Cato targeted Rihanna at a high school event by singling her out as the only student without a parent present, using excessive praise and scholarship promises.
  • Summary: Rihanna first encountered Cato as a high school senior during a UCO recruitment event where she was the only student without a parent. Cato followed her and her teacher to the parking lot to lavish praise and offer scholarships, bordering on suggestive comments. After she decided on UCO, communication ceased until the semester started, fitting a pattern of love-bombing followed by neglect.
Meisner Technique as Abuse Tool
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(00:10:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Cato utilized the Meisner acting technique not for artistic development but as a tool to induce and control deep, intense emotions, leaving students feeling traumatized.
  • Summary: The experience of studying Meisner technique with Cato was described as ‘disgusting’ and ’nightmarish,’ potentially ruining the speaker’s ability to act. Cato used the technique to force students into experiencing intense emotion, which he then controlled, mirroring unsafe instruction witnessed at a high school event. This method was identified as another tool of abuse he frequently employed.
Cato’s Control Over Department
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(00:11:23)
  • Key Takeaway: As the head of the theater department, Cato wielded ultimate control over student opportunities, including scholarships, course sequencing, and travel selections, without accountability.
  • Summary: Cato’s position as the head theater person meant students needed him for advisement and departmental needs. He controlled who received scholarships, which classes were taken, and who participated in trips to Europe and other away events. This level of authority allowed him to operate without being held accountable to anyone within the department.
Gendered Focus and Cruelty
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(00:12:10)
  • Key Takeaway: Cato primarily focused his attention, both positive and negative, on young female students, while showing little meaningful interaction with male students and mocking others.
  • Summary: The speaker noted having no significant memories of Cato interacting meaningfully with male students, as his focus was intensely on the young girls he was educating and abusing. However, he was cruel across the board, once mocking a student who was excited to meet him after the student left his office. This cruelty served as a contrast to the intense focus he placed on his favored female students.
Miranda and Lindsay’s Relationship Dynamics
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(00:18:57)
  • Key Takeaway: Cato’s pattern included encouraging underage drinking on trips and mistreating students involved with him, such as Lindsay, whose distress was an ‘open secret’ that others felt unable to acknowledge.
  • Summary: Cato was involved in underage drinking on trips to Louisville and Texas, which also involved inappropriate touching of students. Lindsay was visibly distraught during one trip due to Cato mistreating her, yet no one could acknowledge the situation due to his perceived hold over the group. This occurred the same year Cato began heavily investing attention in Miranda.
Scotland Trip and Alienation
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(00:19:55)
  • Key Takeaway: The Scotland trip, involving a performance developed with Miranda and Liv, served as a potential humiliation ritual where the speaker felt deliberately alienated by Cato to foster closeness with Miranda and Liv.
  • Summary: During the Scotland trip, the speaker felt uncomfortable as Cato focused intensely on Miranda and Liv, actively pushing the speaker to the side. Cato maintained dead silence during a bus ride with the speaker, making the speaker feel alienated and ‘othered.’ This behavior is now interpreted as Cato ensuring the speaker felt isolated so he could draw Miranda and Liv closer.
Miranda’s Relationship Progression
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(00:23:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Miranda developed feelings for Cato during the rehearsal process for Eurydice, culminating in a confession that led to immediate sexual contact in his office.
  • Summary: Miranda was cast as the lead in Cato’s main stage show, Eurydice, during which she spent extensive, isolated time with him before and after rehearsals. She confessed her feelings after two to three weeks of rehearsal, and Cato immediately reciprocated, stating he liked her too, which she now recognizes as manipulation to validate his abuse. Soon after, he forced her into oral sex and pushed for penetrative sex, often in his office next to other peers.
Coercion vs. Consent in Abuse
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(00:28:39)
  • Key Takeaway: While initial physical contact felt consensual, the ongoing sexual experiences were ultimately coerced because Miranda was manipulated into wanting those acts, especially when Cato made it clear her purpose was to satisfy him.
  • Summary: Miranda admitted that some sexual experiences felt consensual initially, particularly the first physical contact, but all experiences carry the weight of manipulation. She felt coerced and pressured when it became clear her role before or after rehearsal was solely to ensure Cato ‘got off.’ She stated ’no’ multiple times, but these refusals were ultimately disregarded by him.
Exhaustion and Isolation During Rehearsals
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(00:30:20)
  • Key Takeaway: The intense rehearsal schedule, combined with emotional manipulation and sexual demands, created an exhausting and isolating environment designed to break down Miranda’s defenses.
  • Summary: The rehearsal period was the most intense time of the relationship, with Cato ensuring the play’s emotional weight mirrored the exhaustion he imposed externally. He forced Miranda to run the saddest parts of the play repeatedly until she vomited, which she now sees as a tactic to break down her defenses. He would sneak away from his wife to meet Miranda at his office, forcing Miranda to isolate herself from friends to maintain the relationship.
Morgan’s Initial Positive View Shattered
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(00:49:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Morgan initially viewed Cato as a captivating teacher who saved her high school experience, but her perception shattered upon learning about his sexual harassment of another student.
  • Summary: Morgan enrolled at UCO specifically for the theater education program and initially found Cato lively, energetic, and captivating in his Foundations of Theater class. She was quickly taken under the wing of upperclassmen who praised Cato, leading her to believe she was special for being cast as a freshman. The facade broke when a peer, not Miranda, disclosed sexual harassment by Cato on an away trip involving alcohol.
Cato’s Manipulation of Friendships
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(00:37:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Once Miranda and Cato were in a relationship, Cato actively worked to push Miranda away from Olivia by speaking poorly of Olivia, claiming she lacked the shared ‘sad childhood’ experience.
  • Summary: Cato attempted to sever Miranda’s friendship with Olivia by telling Miranda that Olivia had a supportive family and didn’t understand their shared trauma. This was a tactic to isolate Miranda once the relationship with Cato was established, as Olivia became a threat to his control. Olivia noticed Miranda becoming distant and arriving late to rehearsal with Cato, who was simultaneously being awful to Miranda in the rehearsal room.
Rihanna’s Realization of Inappropriateness
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(00:43:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Rihanna’s belief that Miranda’s relationship with Cato was consensual dissolved when she learned Cato visited Miranda’s home and when Morgan disclosed being sexually harassed by him.
  • Summary: Rihanna felt deeply uncomfortable when she learned Cato visited Miranda’s apartment, contextualizing the relationship as inappropriate beyond a simple professor-student dynamic. Her belief that Miranda was in a ‘magical’ relationship shattered after Morgan disclosed being sexually harassed by Cato on a trip involving alcohol. This information led Rihanna to realize the relationship was not simply a special connection but involved abuse.
Cato’s Behavior on KCACTF Trip
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(01:05:33)
  • Key Takeaway: On a KCACTF trip, Cato drank with underage students and later groped the speaker in a hallway, an act the speaker initially rationalized by thinking Cato mistook her for Lindsay.
  • Summary: Cato bought alcohol for students on the KCACTF trip, drinking with them despite the speaker being 19 at the time. On the last night, while walking into the dorm, Cato placed a hand on the speaker’s rear end. The speaker was startled and immediately thought Cato must have mistaken her for Lindsay, reflecting the known history of Cato’s relationships with other students.
Physical Assault and Denial
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(01:07:41)
  • Key Takeaway: The survivor was startled by an unexpected hand on her rear, immediately followed by Kato rushing past, leading to initial self-doubt about the incident.
  • Summary: The survivor felt a hand on her rear and was startled, observing Kato moving quickly past her to rejoin the group. She initially dismissed the event, thinking she must have imagined it, before realizing it had actually occurred. Her immediate internal rationalization was that Kato must have mistaken her for Lindsay.
Kato’s Post-Incident Behavior
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(01:08:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Kato later approached the survivor in a social setting and offered her his room if she was having issues with her roommate, making her uncomfortable.
  • Summary: After the incident, the group gathered to drink, and Kato sat near the survivor, engaging her in conversation about the trip. He offered her a place to sleep in his room due to her roommate’s issue with a lost stuffed animal, an offer she declined while feeling uncomfortable.
Kato and Lindsay Relationship Context
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(01:09:56)
  • Key Takeaway: The relationship between Kato and Lindsay was widely suspected to be romantic, characterized by intense closeness that later soured into palpable tension.
  • Summary: The survivor confirms that while never explicitly stated, everyone in the department suspected Kato and Lindsay were romantically involved, viewing her as his muse and favorite. This relationship visibly deteriorated toward the end of Lindsay’s time, resulting in tense interactions whenever they were in the same room.
Survivor’s Strategic Distancing
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(01:11:21)
  • Key Takeaway: The survivor intentionally created distance from Kato by choosing a non-performance major track to avoid his classes and productions after the first trip.
  • Summary: As a theater education major, the survivor had a buffer, allowing her to avoid many of Kato’s required classes and productions. She deliberately opted out of auditioning for his shows after 2015, though he still recommended her for other opportunities like a short film.
Persistent Trip Pressure
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(01:12:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Kato was unusually persistent in trying to get the survivor to attend his annual Scotland study abroad trip, even offering to take out a loan to cover her costs.
  • Summary: Kato strongly pressured the survivor to attend his yearly Scotland trip, using financial excuses as her reason for refusal. His extreme insistence, including offering to take out a loan for her attendance, now appears highly questionable in retrospect, especially given her perceived lack of essential talent.
Pattern Recognition and Second Trip
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(01:13:33)
  • Key Takeaway: The survivor recognized a pattern of Kato’s behavior toward new freshmen mirroring his initial treatment of her, leading to increased unease.
  • Summary: The survivor began noticing a repeating pattern in how Kato treated incoming freshmen, observing him treating them similarly to how he treated her. This observation, combined with the trip pressure, contributed to a growing unsettled feeling about his conduct.
Drunk Driving Incident
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(01:14:05)
  • Key Takeaway: During a 2016 trip, Kato picked up the survivor and Lindsay while drunk, driving them to his hotel room where the survivor experienced dissociation.
  • Summary: While attending an acting competition trip in 2016, Kato, who was drunk, picked up the survivor and Lindsay and took them to his hotel room, offering drinks. The survivor felt surreal and realized later she was dissociating heavily during this time before he drove them back.
Institutional Betrayal and Investigation
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(01:15:23)
  • Key Takeaway: The Title IX office allegedly misled the survivor about the anonymity of her report and falsely claimed that Miranda was involved, undermining her trust.
  • Summary: The survivor intended to pursue a formal investigation to ensure Kato received fair representation, but felt the Title IX office took advantage of naive students by promising anonymity that was later broken. She was frustrated when told Miranda was dragged into the situation, which she knew was false, and felt her professional merit was suddenly questioned due to the implication of a relationship with Kato.