By Aaliyah Pamplin
Everyone should know how to defend themselves. The Rape Aggression Defense System program, R.A.D. is one of the best programs to teach someone how to protect themselves. So, you will be excited to hear from UNCP instructors that aim to have R.A.D. classes here on campus over the summer for UNCP female, staff and faculty.
What is R.A.D.?
R.A.D is a nationally recognized self-defense course that provides people with the knowledge and skills to defend themselves and help keep themselves safe from danger. UNCP’s R.A.D. program is a free self-defense program that includes lectures, discussions, and self-defense techniques.
“The R.A.D. program offers realistic self-defense tactics and techniques. It is a comprehensive course that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction, and risk avoidance while progressing to the basics of hands-on defense training,” Ronette Gerber wrote in an email in an description of the course offered in 2024.
When was the last class?
This program has not had a class since Summer 2024, which was only offered to female faculty and staff. The last class for UNCP female students was in Spring 2024. They were not able to teach the classes from Fall 2024 to Spring 2025 due to instructors leaving and the old space no longer existing on campus.
How many instructors are left?
Right now, there are four instructors left: Chief Earl Johnson, Jessica Colligan, Tonya Baxley, and April Schmitz. The current Instructors tried to get a class together in March 2025 but unfortunately, they were not able to find a space.
RAD instructor Tonya Baxley said, “We need a place where we can do classroom instruction and act out the poses. That is also easily accessible to all students and staff members.”
There are not a lot of places like that on campus right now. Despite this, their goal is to still find a space and have classes for female faculty and staff to participate in over the summer. They hope to also do classes for Fall 2025 for UNCP female students.
Who can take the classes?
Over the summer female staff and faculty. Over the Fall and spring semesters female students, staff and faculty. Despite
everyone needing the knowledge to know how to defend themselves. These R.A.D. program classes at UNCP are only offered for female students, staff and faculty right now. Maybe one day these classes will be offered to men, however, right now they are not.
During the class instructors suggest that students don’t tell people they have the knowledge of the class, so people do not use that knowledge against them.
Since the program has been back at least 50 students including faculty and staff have taken the course since 2023 according to Schmitz.
They are hoping to have many more students and to continue to teach self-defense.
Some words of advice from Baxley are to “be aware of your surroundings, that is your number one defense mechanism.”