PODCAST: “The Enablers,” Institutional Actors in Sexual Assaults

Featuring Amos Guiora and Elizabeth Abdnour, stimulated by Guiora’s new book, Armies of Enablers


For years, storylines about sexual assaults have focused on perpetrators and victims/survivors–and for very good reasons. There’s a related storyline, too. It’s about institutional affiliates who observe or know about sexual assaults but do not take appropriate action on the victims’ behalf. Omissions make it easier for perpetrators to get away with assaults, for assaults to continue, and for institutions to cover up what happened.

Amos Guiora and Elizabeth Abdnour

Amos Guiora is a professor of law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. His books include the recently released Armies of Enablers: Survivors Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults (Chicago, IL: ABA Publishing, American Bar Association, 2020).

Elizabeth Abdnour is a Lansing, MI-area civil rights, Title IX, and education attorney. She is also a board member of The Firecracker Foundation. Ms. Abdnour is an advocate for survivors and has been outspoken on the issue of institutional enablement.

This program is sponsored by FutureU, a network of colleagues concerned about the status and future of higher education. Frank A. Fear, professor emeritus, Michigan St. Univ, is the program host.

The Podcast (45 minutes) is available here

Purchase the book here (option to purchase from multiple booksellers)

Dr. Fear’s review of Armies of Enablers can be found here.

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