This upcoming Wednesday, Jan. 23, Pi Beta Phi along with Sigma Phi Epsilon will be hosting a T.A.K.E. Self Defense Program for Women. The free event will be held in the Dedman Sports Center on the basketball courts from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. All SMU women are invited to participate in the program.

The T.A.K.E. Defense Training Program is one of the main ventures of the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation. Ali Kemp was a Pi Beta Phi at Kansas State University who was assaulted and murdered while working at her summer job at a community pool in 2002.

According to the organization’s Web site, takedefense.org, the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation was started by Ali’s parents in her honor to “ensure that the values and spirit Ali stood for live on, to increase safety awareness in young girls and women, and to encourage volunteerism in [the] community.” The foundation’s Web site offers information on where to donate monetary contributions, and a schedule of defense classes being held all over the country.

The Web site also offers several tips for women to decrease the possibility of a crime, such as parking away from vans. According to the Web site, a victim “could be pulled into the vehicle through the sliding door. If you return and a van is parked next to you, enter your vehicle on the opposite side.”

“I make sure that I’m always aware of my surroundings,” first-year Lacey Schuler said. “If I’m doing something that’s unfamiliar, I try not to do it alone.”

By hosting the self-defense program on Wednesday, the Texas Beta chapter of Pi Beta Phi aims to support the Kemp family while teaching young women various ways to protect themselves so as to prevent further attacks on women. Each year, over 350,000 college women are sexually or physically assaulted and more than 1.4 million women and girls report sexual or physical abuse.