“Learning to trust your intuition is keeping yourself as much as possible out of unsafe situations,” she said. “The level one class (talks) about statistics but (also) what are things you can do to keep yourself potentially safer.”

The class spent half of its two-hour duration discussing how to identify the red flag signals in a harmful situation, which is especially important on a college campus, said Angela Michael, the assistant director of Intramural Sports and Recreative Services.
 
Participants who attended the level one class are invited to attend a level two class from 4-6 p.m. Sunday at the Union’s Tower Room.

“People think their biggest risk is walking from the library to their home at night, and that’s not the case,” she said. “It’s being around people that you trust and people that you don’t know (when) too much alcohol is consumed.”

Although participants were trained to conquer many types of assault in the course, sexual assault was a focus because one in six women are victims of sexual assault, according to MSU’s self defense website.

Living in a society that might place more responsibility on the female and her state of awareness, women need to be prepared for any situation, Michael said. 

“(We talk) about who are the people that think it is okay to have sex with a girl that is intoxicated and unconscious,” she said. “Rape will not end until men are involved in the conversation and they are a part of the solution.”

French sophomore Sarah Lapidus said she attended the class to further her own sense of personal protection.

“I have pretty good common sense, but this will just make me feel safer as a woman on like a huge campus,” she said. “(When) I’m by all myself on a big campus, (it’s calming) to know some techniques to be able to protect myself in case something happens.”