Women taking the Rape Aggression Defense classes offered by the university police have recently had plenty of space to practice.

Some have raised concerns over low class attendance; however, attendance usually rises when there are campus alerts about sexual assaults, Pam Christian, the university crime prevention specialist, said.

“If they don’t feel like there’s a problem, there’s not a problem to fix,” Christian said.

Self-defense is like any other class in college, Officer Mike Fazli said. You may never have to use it in life, but it is still good to have.

The RAD class is offered to university women to teach them crime prevention and basic self-defense techniques, Christian said.

“It is important because the majority of all females have never taken any kind of self defense, and I want our girls to take a self defense course,” Christian said.

Michelle Nguyen, a sophomore business major, said the class was helpful because it taught her simple self defense and provided her with a comfortable learning environment.

“Once you've taken the class, you can always come back to practice some of the things you learned if you feel like it's necessary,” Nguyen said.

Between 2008 and 2010, there were eight sexual assaults on campus, according to TCU police crime statistics.

However, sexual assault is an under-reported crime, Christian said.

One in four college-aged women report experiences that match the legal definition of rape or attempted rape, according to the NYU student health center website.

“I want them to be able to survive an attack,” Christian said.

The upcoming classes on Feb. 16 and 17 are free to all TCU women.

To register, go to http://www.police.tcu.edu/RADonlineregis.htm, or call Christian at 817-257-7276.