Eastern’s Police Department will be sponsoring a series of free women’s self-defense classes through the Rape Aggression Defense system from July 5-7 from 4-7 p.m.

The class will have two instructors and eight students; community members can apply, but students have priority; to sign up send your name and phone number to email police@eiu.edu.

Co-instructor Rebecca Emily, a junior human services major, said the program is a great way for women to feel safe on campus.

R.A.D. is a self-defense program designed for education and awareness. The course will teach individuals proper methods of self-defense. In addition, they will be able to practice the material they learn.

Emily received her R.A.D certification when she participated in a training program in Ohio.

While at the program, the instructors said they were impressed with her dedication and passion for wanting to implement R.A.D. on her campus.

In the past, the program had upwards of 30 people attending with several instructors; now to test if the program is popular, UPD is starting with a small group.

Police Chief Marisol Gamboa said she hopes students have an interest in the class and wants to have more training sessions throughout the school year.

Gamboa said she is excited about the program so she can educate women on self-defense.

“We’ve been trained since March, but we were hoping to offer it sooner,” Gamboa said. “But we finally had some time where we were able to prepare the material and get ready to offer it in July.”

Emily thought it would help students connect with the program better if a fellow student was an instructor, so she decided to become one.

“So we’re kind of providing safety and comfortability of women on campus because not a lot of women feel safe on campus,” Emily said.

Although the emergency blue poles on campus can help, she feels they aren’t the full solution.

“I feel like not a lot of people want to depend on UPD,” Emily said. “So then to be able to provide them with their own kind of set of tools is really exciting.”

Gamboa said she feels strongly for this program because she has a daughter who is in college and wanted her to be safe.

Emily said attending would be beneficial, even if you are nervous.

“I mean, you only live once, it’s just your safety is a priority,” Emily said. “It this can help you in any sort of way, even like lower the chances of you being insecure or unsafe on campus, then give it a go.”

Rob Le Cates is a sophomore journalism major. He can be reached at 217-581-2818 or at deneic@gmail.com