Female students, faculty and staff members will have the opportunity this weekend to learn how to better protect themselves from attacks.
Starting Friday at 6 p.m., the University will offer a Rape Aggression Defense Systems course in the Center for Computation & Technology Annex Building. According to R.A.D. System’s website, the program’s mission is to provide instructors to help all people “create a safer future for themselves.”
The class covers a multitude of different attacks women can learn to protect themselves from. Health Promotion Coordinator of the Office of Health Promotion Kathy Saichuk said some of the scenarios the class talks about are home invasion, personal space invasion by strangers and physical aggression.
“It enhances skills that we already have, and we don’t even realize we have them,” she said. “It teaches us how, through self-awareness, to learn to use a lot of the natural skills that we have and our natural instincts.”
The class helps females increase their self-awareness and personal safety. Saichuk said students are also able to protect the ones they love.
The University is offering the basic class for $25 for students, faculty and staff and $45 for the general public. The basic class does not cover advanced training on weaponry or aerosols, Saichuk said, but students must take the basic course before moving on to more advanced classes.
Saichuk said the course changes each year to focus on new situations involving ever-evolving technology and digital media, and students living on their own and traveling alone.
R.A.D. programs are held across the nation and around the world. The program is taught in Canada, the United Kingdom, Korea and Switzerland, and the course is taught on military bases, said instructor-trainer at the R.A.D. Systems Jennifer Nadeau.
“If you go to a R.A.D. class, the methodology of teaching is identical, the skills are identical, progression is identical,” she said.
Although students are still signing up, smaller classes are better for teaching, Saichuk said. The instructors prefer to have small classes so students can get one-on-one attention, ask questions and have discussions.
Four instructors will teach this weekend, including Saichuk, two LSU Police Department officers, and an associate dean in the Office of the Dean of Students. The class at the University typically needs three aggressors for the attack simulations.
Nadeau’s father, Larry Nadeau, started the program in 1989, almost 25 years ago.
While working in law enforcement at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, sexual assaults increased on campus. Because he had experience in martial arts and defensive tactics training, Larry was asked to come up with a program for women on campus.
“He never thought that it would leave that campus,” Jennifer said. “But 25 years later, we have quite a number of instructors across the country.”
The national office for R.A.D. Systems is now located in Denham Springs, La., Larry’s hometown.
“The ultimate purpose is for a woman, should she ever get into a situation where she’s attacked, is to escape with the least amount of harm done to herself. That’s the ultimate goal,” Saichuk said.
The Rape Aggression Defense Systems course teaches women how to protect themselves against attacks. The program is $25 for students, faculty, and staff.
