The MSU chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority will host a self-defense class to allow women to have a free opportunity to begin to learn how to defend themselves.
With haunting new statistics that one out of every four women will be raped in a lifetime, there is a need for females to learn how to stay safe and avoid these conditions if possible.
“Women don’t always know how to protect themselves, and this is a good way for us to learn how,” Zeta Tau Alpha historian and reporter Ashley Ott said.
This program will be led by Mississippi State University police officer Kevin Lindsey. Lindsey has been working with the MSU Police Department since August 2001. He is a patrol officer, bike patrol officer and field training officer.
“I will be spending about 30 minutes talking about self-awareness, principles and prevention, and then 30 minutes will be the introduction to self-defense. However, there is much more to be learned than just an hour; I would recommend an entire self-defense class,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey said he uses his hobby of martial arts to teach weekly classes at the Sanderson Center as well. He has been teaching self-defense classes for about 20 years due to his interest in martial arts.
He was asked to do the class after teaching a class for the Kappa Sigma fraternity, which one of the Zeta Tau Alpha members attended and recommended that the sorority host a class.
Each month the Zetas facilitate community service standards, and this month, they decided to host a self-defense class because one member said she feels that women should know how to help themselves in threatening situations.
“We are an organization of women helping women. We need to do things for each other, and self-defense would be great for a bunch of people to come to. There seems to be a great interest among other girls that I know in the self-defense class as well,” Ott said.
The class will involve not only the physical ways in which a woman can defend herself from an attacker, but also how to avoid attacks altogether. Lindsey will talk about places on campus that women should be cautious about going into and some of the areas where women need to work in order to be safe.
The class will take place at the Zeta Tau Alpha house Tuesday, Jan. 28 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The class is free, and refreshments will be provided. Those attending the classes should dress comfortably in order to move around freely during the instruction portion of the class. For more information, call the Zeta Tau Alpha House at 325-3396.