Rape Aggression Defense Class Offered

New Campus Safety training caters to male students

Emma Pollans
The Santa Clara
January 10, 2019

For the first time, Santa Clara’s Campus Safety and Transportation Department are offering Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes for men this weekend.

RAD is a national program that provides short-term training opportunities to help people obtain self-defense education in a short period of time.

The RAD program was brought to Santa Clara by Campus Safety Services (CSS) officials in the late 1990s, but ended in the early 2000s.

In 2013, CSS reestablished the program and provided a women’s class, most recently offered to female students in Fall 2018.

This year marks the beginning of men’s classes offered on campus. By providing classes for both genders, CSS hopes that both men and women will have the same opportunity to learn valuable self-defense skills.

The men’s and women’s courses are largely similar and both provide participants with the physical and mental tools to handle difficult situations. The main reason courses are gender-specific is to allow for participants to feel more comfortable when learning about possible traumatic experiences.

The two-day class will be held on Jan. 12 and 13 for five hours each day in Benson Parlors B&C, with participants expected to attend both days. There is a $15 fee for the workbook.

The goal of the RAD classes is to help students reduce their risk of assault by empowering, educating and allowing students to be more aware of their surroundings.

The classes provide basic yet effective self-defense options in an effort to help the participants feel more confident defending themselves.

They are also designed to help people become more aware of their surroundings, as well as potential dangers that may arise. The classes teach how to physically diffuse high-risk situations.

Tracy Cox is a Campus Safety watch commander as well as a RAD-certified instructor. He has been involved with the RAD program since 2013 and running the program since 2016. Cox is currently the sole instructor for the RAD classes on campus.  

Cox believes that the classes are effective and have helped students become more confident in their abilities to avoid or handle potentially negative situations.

“We have had participants return and report how they have used the skills taught in class to handle difficult situations that they did not feel comfortable handling before,” Cox said.

The basic physical defense class teaches self-defense techniques while RAD classes for men focus on aggressive behavior and teaches participants how to make safer choices when confronted with aggressive behavior.

“The RAD program gives students the educational options to resist aggression,” Cox said. “If students share what they have learned in class with other students, I believe these are valuable tools that will help the campus community.”

Contact Emma Pollans at epollans@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.