Women’s Self-Defense Classes at NLC

Don't mess with the women at North Lake College. They may have taken a new self-defense program offered through the campus police department.

Carla Dearman, the department 's administrative assistant, will serve as instructor for the two-day course. Enrollment is limited, but the free class is open to all North Lake women.

Dearman said women will be accepted into the program on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who are interested may contact her at: cdearman@ dcccd.edu. They also may enroll by visiting the campus police station, C-204.

Men will not be admitted to the women's course unless they are instructors, said Dearman.

“We don't want men to learn these specific self-defense techniques,” Dearman said, “in case they are, in fact, predators.”

Besides, she said, North Lake men already can enroll in kickboxing and similar campus courses.

Dearman is serious about self-defense. She holds an instructor 's certificate from a physical defense program out of Louisiana called RAD (Rape Aggression Defense Systems). And she has attracted a second expert to the program. Officer Gabriel Galvez of the Brookhaven College campus police has agreed to participate as an instructor for the North Lake course, she said.

Women will not be the only beneficiaries of new self-defense techniques.

North Lake officials eventually will offer a week-long program for children, Dearman said.