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Opelika-Auburn News

Opelika-Auburn News

Auburn University offering safety lessons to all female students

Auburn, Ala. (EETV)- Auburn University provides a course called Auburn University Department of Campus Safety and Security's Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.), which helps female students enhance their safety and use the self-defense techniques to escape from a potential assailant.

 Auburn's R.A.D. program consists of three hours of classroom lecture and nine hours of physical techniques. The course ends with a stimulation training, where instructors equipped with padded suits "attack" the students. Students defend themselves using various methods that they were taught, such as ground defense, striking motions, wrist grabs, choke holds, and knee strikes. 

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women are sexually assaulted while in college. 

Campus Safety Officer and Certified Instructor for the National R.A.D. program, Keith Walton, stated "R.A.D. is a comprehensive women-only course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction, and avoidance. 

"After those, they progress onto the basics of hands-on defense training," Walton said. 

Auburn's R.A.D. program is an elective for one hour of class credit. Students can sign up for it when choosing their classes for the upcoming semester. The course number is PHED 2200.

For more information, contact Campus Safety and Security at 334-844-8888 or aurad@auburn.edu.