The University Police Department will offer its award-winning women’s self-defense courses one last time this semester, beginning next Tuesday.

Since 1991, UIPD has offered Rape Aggression Defense courses for women. The $20 course comprises 12 hours of instruction broken up over one three-hour session per week for four weeks. During the fourth week, the instructors host three hours of controlled, simulated situations that let students apply their newly acquired skills. 

The course was deemed “Program of the Year” last year by the Women’s Resource Center after UIPD added courses for men. Pat Morey, director of the Women’s Resource Center and former instructor of the courses, cited several reasons for giving the class the award. She said the main reason is that last year, UIPD added defense classes for men, called Resisting Aggression with Defense. She also said she appreciates how the program is focused on physiology, rather than entirely dependent on learning techniques like the martial arts.

“RAD is really street smarts, and it’s about how you use your voice and how you use your attitude and how you defend yourself to the point where you can get away,” she said.

Detective Rob Murphy, UIPD, has taught the adult courses for about four years. He explained that the purpose is to teach students about situational awareness, wanting them to be aware of where they are and how they position themselves in relation to other people.

“We teach some self-defense skills, but we also teach a huge education component,” he said. “Think about where you’re walking on campus, where the emergency phones are.”

Esther Bier, junior in LAS, took the women’s course last spring.

“I felt a lot more confident in my ability to be protected,” she said.

She also said she liked how the class combated the cycle of victim blaming.

“When that information is targeted at women, we then blame women for when they don’t take those methods,” Bier said. “That then leads to allowing people to blame women for when they don’t take these methods of protection.”

Morey, who has been an advocate, counselor and educator about sexual assault for about 35 years, was previously opposed to self defense because she thought it represented victim blaming. After learning the techniques in a program for women, though, she determined that the skills were important for women to learn because they serve as an option.

“(Women) have been told over and over and over again to limit our freedom,” she said. “Especially college women, they should have the right to go wherever they want and wear whatever they want. … Self defense gives people an option to consider when faced with a threatening situation.”

Sergeant Joan Fiesta, also of UIPD, has taught the classes at the University for 17 years. She explained that the course makes the students feel safe because having the skills means they can make conscious decisions about how to react to a violent situation.

“I think that’s the true empowerment,” she said. “It’s life skills training versus just teaching how to punch (and) kick.”

Sari can be reached at [email protected] and @Sari_Lesk.