For the past 10 years, the Lehigh University Police Department has been offering the R.A.D. (Rape.Aggression.Defense.) program for women students, faculty and staff. Nearly 500 have been trained through the comprehensive course, which begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training. The course is facilitated by certified R.A.D. instructors on the LUPD’s fully accredited force.
 
Courses are offered several times throughout the year, and are free. Each course exposes the participants to 12 hours of training – three hours each class, divided into four days – and is limited to 14 participants.
“Safety requires a definitive course of action,” says LUPD Chief Ed Shupp. “The R.A.D. system provides effective options by teaching women how to take an active role in their own self-defense and psychological well-being, and providing them with the tools and training to keep themselves safe.”

Shupp said that the LUPD will begin offering a similar self-defense training program for men in the Spring 2015 semester.

For more information on R.A.D. or to register for a course, please go to http://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/content/rad-rape-aggression-defense-training