Self Defense Education Help Students Renew Confidence During Crime Wave

A quick look at the daily news reveals the dangerous world we live in. Murders, rapes, and attacks of all kinds dominate the newscast. Attacks occur in every city, age group, and socio-economic strata. It doesn’t take long to realize that there is no way to 100% guarantee safety from attack.

Distant dangers, though, do not always shake confidence. It is when crime hits close to home that it is easy to suddenly feel unsafe in your normal routine and for comfort to turn to unease.

In October 2009, a crime wave of robbery, assaults, and burglaries hit George Washington University in Washington, D.C. One student, Jackie Geller, noted that a recent attack (an aggravated assault where an apparently randomly chosen student was attacked with a hammer) shook her sense of safety. "The fact that it took place in Duques, which is where I predominantly go to classes and to study, makes me feel less safe…You think you’re safe and then you wonder if anything could happen when you’re casually walking around campus. It makes me think twice about walking around at night."

The University Police Department is offering a free class teaching basic self defense skills called the Rape Aggression Defense Course, a two day course designed for female students.

Deborah Goldsmith, a self defense instructor, says that a goal of self defense is to help people "to feel safe while going about their daily lives." Students at George Washington University can’t stop going to class or walking on campus but they can empower themselves with knowledge of how to be aware and prevent violence as best they can.