viii
Acknowledgments
The Association of American Universities (AAU) Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct
required collaboration among all the parties concerned. AAU provided steadfast leadership and
guidance by Mary Sue Coleman, AAU President, as well as the AAU team of Kimberlee Eberle-
Sudré, Samiksha Shetty, Meara O’Malley, Pedro Ribeiro, Rob Marus, Jillian Gates, Tobin Smith,
Matt Owens, Katie Steen, Mollie Benz Flounlacker, Jessica Sebeok, Leah Norton, and Andrew
Parrish.
The project could not have moved forward without the support of the presidents of the 33
participating schools.
The design was a collaboration with the members of the Survey Design Team (SDT) and the
participating schools. Comments on the 2015 and 2019 questionnaires were provided by
representatives of each participating school. The SDT met on a weekly, and sometimes twice-
weekly, basis to develop the final questionnaire and consider the comments provided by the
schools. Often working under pressure, SDT members approached their work in a collegial
manner, respecting the opinions of their colleagues, even while sometimes disagreeing. SDT
members included Kellie Brennan (The Ohio State University), Brian Cook (Stanford University),
Robert Coulter (University of Pittsburgh), Marne K. Einarson and Madelyn Wessel (Cornell
University), Karen Heimer (University of Iowa), Marlena Holden and Nora Cate Schaeffer
(University of Wisconsin-Madison), Jagruti Patel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),
Audrey Pettifor (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Liam Schwartz and Nicole Merhill
(Harvard University), Lara Stemple (University of California-Los Angeles), and Min Xie
(University of Maryland-College Park). A very special thanks to Lily Svensen (Yale University)
and Christina Morell (University of Virginia) for their willingness to take on the challenging role
of committee co-chairs.
In addition to SDT members’ active engagement in the survey’s design and implementation
processes, a number of individuals made invaluable contributions to the study. These
individuals include Kelley Adams (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Emily Babb
(University of Virginia), Melanie Boyd (Yale University), Gustavo Burkett (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology), La-Tarri Canty (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Nancy Deutsch
(University of Virginia), Erin Driver-Linn (Harvard University), Abigail Francis (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology), Jamie Leonard (University of Virginia), Kate McCarthy (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology), Kathleen Monagle (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Sarah
Rankin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Sarah Robinson Schultz (University of Virginia),
Karen Singleton (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Albert Wang (Harvard University), and
Leah Whitehouse (Harvard University).
Most importantly, we’d like to thank the students who completed the survey; without them,
this study would not have been possible.