Audrey Buckley

You encounter danger when you least expect it. For me it was walking back from the PCL, just a few feet away from my apartment building in West Campus. Although it was a quick encounter, my self-defense tactics from personal safety classes kicked in. I previously learned that entering large groups of people would divert attention and give me time to ask for help, and that tip kept me safe. 

Studying on the Forty Acres comes with its obvious freedoms and perks, but along with those benefits rise many safety concerns. Vigilance and preparedness is imperative when it comes to maneuvering life both on and off-campus. For some, it seems like threatening situations are few and far between, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. 

In building a safer campus-environment, reinstating RecSports self-defense classes is a step in the right direction to empower students and equip them with essential safety awareness.

“Back in 2019, we were fortunate enough to have a student sports club member who actually taught self-defense classes as part of our instructional program,” said Randall Ford, director of communications and development with UT RecSports. “We don’t offer them in our instructional program because we don’t have anybody currently that’s either wanted to or certified to teach them right now for our instructional program.”

There is a need to have these programs reinstated. Although UT provides many safety resources, for example, West Campus Ambassador and Sure Walk, sometimes there are situations where we have to rely on ourselves. A solution to this problem is to find experts or students who are certified in self-defense or martial arts training who can lead classes focused on defending oneself in threatening situations. So, if you are a student who is either certified or knowledgable on self-defense or know an expert who is willing to teach these classes, reach out to UT RecSports. 

For students living in West Campus, there is a general feeling of unsafeness. While safety resources are offered, there are situations where students have been followed, spit at or verbally abused. Knowing how to avoid, divert, and ignore is also a method of defending oneself, and these tactics can easily be taught through classes. Although we can never assure complete safety, training through RecSports could prepare students to practice better self-awareness. 

Texas Sunshines, a spirit organization, partners with local groups to offer self-defense classes to their members. Saniya Chaudhari, sophomore biomedical engineering major and member of Texas Sunshines, believes these classes prepare members for every situation.

“Since we do (self-defense classes) every semester, people always have new ideas or situations they might have been in, ” Chaudhari said. “If there are multiple attackers, they taught us how to fend for ourselves in different ways. How an attacker can grab you, how to get out of their hold and run away and call for help.” 

Students like Chaudhari find having self-defense knowledge to be beneficial for members. Even though there might not be situations to use the practice, you will know how to avoid threats and defend yourself. In the future, organizations like Texas Sunshines shouldn’t have to look far to provide self-defense lessons for their members. 

UT Recsports reinstating their self-defense classes by finding student or certified trainers can better prepare our students for threatening situations and offer on-campus self-defense classes. 

Shenoy is an economics sophomore from Houston, Texas.