The Flip the Script program from Stanford’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response & Education (SHARE) Title IX and Title VI office facilitates research-backed conversations and trainings for women about sexual assault, particularly on college campuses, where they are disproportionately vulnerable. 

At least, it used to. 

This year, Stanford removed Flip the Script in response to budget cuts and program changes at the SHARE office, according to an email to Flip the Script facilitators obtained by The Daily. 

To Pelagia Martin ’27, SHARE student staff member and lead organizer of sexual assault awareness event Take Back the Night, losing the program makes “people [who] are in defenseless positions even more incapable of defending themselves.”

Flip the Script busted myths for women about sexual violence, teaching them that perpetrators are most likely to be acquaintances. The program also aimed to help foster difficult discussions about sex through 12-hour seminar-style lessons and taught women practical self-defense skills. 

Clea Sarnquist, one of the founding researchers behind the program, noted that Flip the Script reduced attempted and completed rape on campus. Cutting the program, she wrote, gives up this opportunity unless the University replaces it with something equally or more effective. 

“I hope there is a plan in place for other evidence-based programming and that those plans are shared and implemented very soon,” Sarnquist wrote. 

“Stanford is committed to building a culture of care and accountability and to preventing sexual violence,” Adrienne Lyles, Title IX and Title VI coordinator, wrote to The Daily. “We are devoting the resources necessary to that work and to adjudicating alleged Title IX violations promptly and fairly.”

According to Lyles, the office has also hired an assistant director for culture and connection to create educational programming. SHARE will also hold drop-in and office hours to provide resources on preventing and responding to sexual misconduct.

Beyond facilitators’ positive reviews of the program, Flip the Script, or Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) as it was previously known, has research-backed results of decreasing rape among participants in the intervention by over 50%. 

“I’m repulsed and exhausted with the predictability of it all,” Kirsten Lees ’27, a past coordinator of the program wrote to The Daily, in reference to the program being cut. Changes to Flip the Script follow the suspension of Beyond Sex Ed from New Student Orientation (NSO) programming. Beyond Sex Ed was a decade-long program in which students shared stories on topics of consent, sexual assault and boundaries, among other related topics.  

Enrollment was low at the beginning of last year for Flip the Script, starting with three participants in the fall. But that number grew through an outreach push to 15 participants in the spring. According to Lees, the enrollment challenges for Flip the Script mirrored those that many other programs and student organizations face in their early stages. Last year was Flip the Script’s first time being offered for class credit, after it was introduced in 2018 as a research project. According to Lees, “helping even just one person is worth it.”

Past student facilitators of the program said they saw women leave Flip the Script feeling more empowered and confident through holding difficult discussions. 

“I really do think that sexual assault is one of those things that becomes more real when you talk about it, and I think that a lot of people don’t want it to become a reality, so they don’t want to talk about it,” Marisa Woo M.S. ’28 said. 

According to Lyles, Stanford is focusing on holistic education this year “that began with upstander trainings at the start of fall quarter and will expand with additional programming throughout the year. Any campus group can request training by completing a short form.”

Claire Birge ’27, a past facilitator of the program, mentioned that, following the report of an armed sexual assault of a jogger on campus, enrollment in the course dramatically increased due to student fears. The claim of the assault has since been refuted. 

“The fact we were able to make the women feel more comfortable after that and feel safe on campus, I think, was really valuable,” Birge said. 

Martin expressed frustration at the removal of Flip the Script particularly because of its actionability, stating in an interview with The Daily that “the sex education and consent trainings are also incredibly important, but it doesn’t end there.” Martin noted that the change to SHARE is particularly upsetting in light of the reopened investigation into the Cornell Seven, an alleged gang rape case at a Cornell University fraternity. 

“I am glad I got to facilitate the program even if just for a year,” Lees wrote. “And I am hopeful that the learnings of the program will spread with the community we were able to build last year — that those women will be strong, support their friends, spread the word and just live safe, happy shame-free lives knowing that any resistance is great resistance, no matter how big or small.”