xii A c k n o wl e dgm e nts Voice Coalition, innovating state legislative responses to campus sexual assault by involving students themselves. The Schar School of Policy and Government made space for us to pur- sue this research through a Schar Initiative Award in 2017 with which we founded the Gender and Policy Center, and a Multidisciplinary Research Grant Award from the Provost of George Mason University in 2015 which supported early elements of our work through a multidisciplinary study on mitigating campus sexual assault. We have benefited from collaboration with colleagues, including Hemant Purohit of the Volgenau School of Engineering, and Heidi Law- rence and Lourdes Fernandez of George Mason’s Department of English, who helped us investigate the issue of rape rhetoric in several coauthored articles since 2016 and Angela Hattery, now Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Gender-Based Violence at the University of Delaware. Thanks are due to all the graduate research assistants at the Schar School who supported us through various stages of this project, especially Shaune Gilbert, Lilian Medina Romero, and Laura Thorn. We also appreciate the comments of some anonymous reviewers and friends and the feedback we received on two chapters (on the campus and court contexts) presented at MPSA in 2021. I (Aubrey) am immensely grateful to Bonnie for bringing me along on this journey, but most of all, for being a patient and encouraging men- tor. To my writing group, Kirk, Pete, Jennifer, and Geoff, who diligently nudge me to stay on track, I hope this book’s publication offers some redemption for my endless procrastination. Thank you to Mercy, who indulged my narrowly focused conversations over the course of this pro- ject and always provided encouragement and perspective. I am especially thankful to my dissertation committee, Jennifer Victor, Justin Gest, and Desmond Dinan, for being supportive of me working on something other than my dissertation. My family, a source of my inspiration and enthusiasm, has suffered through many of my monologues and deserves my sincerest gratitude. My late grandmother, Doris, always humored my curiosity and determination, or what some might call defiance. My late grandfather, Victor, instilled in me empathy, compassion, and ded- ication. My dad, Sid, is my most fervent champion and taught me that barriers were meant to be broken. My mom, Debbie, has shown me what determined women can accomplish. I am grateful for my sister, Keri, and her husband, Adam, who entertain all my interests and adventures and my brother, Colby, and his wife, Kate, who are always up for sincere,
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