No! Stop! Get Back! – a mantra that the University of Wisconsin - Superior Campus Safety wants all women on campus to learn.

In order to teach them how, each semester Campus Safety offers a Rape Aggression Defense Systems (RADS) class for women.

The classes held on campus are three four-hour sessions, each class teaching students how to recognize dangerous situations and how to avoid physical conflict. Students in the class also learn home/dorm security and learn where their weaknesses are and how to make improvements.

The classes include scenarios where the women in the class get to practice and use the techniques they learned.  

“It makes me feel good that they use the technique and they see that it works for them,” said Campus Safety Officer Larry Martin, who teaches the class.

Martin was certified for teaching the class in 2003 after four full days of rigorous training. In order to keep his certification, Martin has to teach at least two classes a year, which he has done on the UWS campus for the past six years.

 “[My biggest hope is] that anybody who is attacked will be able to defend themselves and won’t be a victim of assault or sexual assault,” said Martin.

The next RADS self-defense class will be held next semester in February, and all women are welcome to attend.  

For students, faculty, and staff the class is free.  Community members not affiliated with the campus are welcome to attend, but are asked to pay a $25 dollar fee. Registration is at the Campus Safety office, which will be moving into the old gas station next door to Crownhart Hall over winter break.

The RADS classes were started in 1989 by Lawrence Nadeau, an ex-cop/military man who wanted to help women fight back. According to the RADS handbook, the objective of the class is to develop and enhance the options of self-defense to become viable considerations to the woman who is being attacked.