CARMA
Chapter Alumni Risk Management Advisor program (CARMA)
NOTICE: The CARMA Program is temporarily suspended during the 2016-17 academic year. Here is the e-mail from FSILG Office Director Brad Badgley.
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From: Brad Badgley
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2016 10:31 AM
To: carma-advisors <carma-advisors@mit.edu>
Cc: Don Camelio <dcamelio@mit.edu>; baker@med.mit.edu; mitailg <mitailg@mit.edu>; fsilg-office <fsilg-office@mit.edu>
Subject: RE: CARMA program update
Hello CARMA Advisors,
Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication over the years to your chapters and to the greater FSILG community.
At this time, we’ve made the decision to put the CARMA program on hold until the AILG Mentoring Program is fully in place and the FSILG Office staff is back at full strength. In the past few years, we have not been able to focus sufficient attention on CARMA as in prior years. The CARMA Planning Team also feel that AILG Mentoring Program and CARMA can eventually come together to make the greatest impact on the FSILG community, but for the time being, we would like to have the AILG Mentoring Program pilot play out and become the best it can be before we try to integrate CARMA.
For a refresher, the AILG Mentoring Program is a risk management and education program for the alumni/ae to use in helping their chapters, similar to but broader in scope than CARMA.
If you have an interest in AILG Mentoring Program, please reach out to Mike Feinstein ’82 at mike_feinstein@yahoo.com or me for more information and potentially to get involved.
Again, thank you so much for your dedication to this program and to the community!
Best regards, Brad
Brad Badgley, Associate Dean & Director of FSILGs
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The web pages remain as a resource until the CARMA Program is restarted.
EDUCATION SESSIONS:
The program sponsors periodic larger group meetings for the community on topics aligned with our interests such as sexual assault awareness, bystander training, mental health, hazing prevention, and student alcohol/drug use. There are generally two session per term. Here are the Spring 2016 sessions.
Monday, March 14, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in 8-205: The FSILG office, the office of Community Development and Substance Abuse, and the student group P.L.E.A.S.U.R.E., for the next CARMA session.
Started in 2015, Pleasure is a student-led effort to promote healthy relationships and reduce sexual violence at MIT. They offer peer-facilitated workshops on topics ranging from sexual health to communicating across cultures and value systems. This program offers a pathway to create a culture at MIT with high expectations for healthy interactions and a culture that promotes respect and spurns violence. They aim to help each student explore and develop their own set of values and skills. As such, they strive for inclusivity in our discussions, welcoming participants of all backgrounds and perspectives. Learn more at http://pleasure.mit.edu/.
Monday, April 25, 2016 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in 4-231. Presentation and discussion with Active Minds at MIT, a student-led initiative for better health and wellness, stress relief, and health education. It is made up of students who use peer-to-peer outreach for health advocacy and education with a focus on mental health. They liaison between students and the administration/mental health community.Active Minds is a national organization founded in 2001 with 200+ chapters worldwide. The MIT chapter has been a 5-star chapter for two consecutive years. Visit their website at http://activeminds.mit.edu/. This event is co-sponsored by the Office of Community Development and Substance Abuse.
Friday, April 29 in 4-237. Dinner will be at 7 p.m., with the movie beginning at 7:30. “The Hunting Ground” is a documentary based on sexual assaults on college campuses, and is being screened in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), which takes place the entire month of April. For a complete list of SAAM events taking place at MIT, visit http://elephant.mit.edu/. This film screening is co-sponsored by the FSILG Office, Violence Prevention and Response, the Interfraternity Council, and Zeta Psi
PURPOSE:
Since 2004, committed alumni and members of MIT administration have worked to create and implement an alumni-led program to open dialogue and develop strategies to effectively support the undergraduate risk managers as they address various types of risk that occur in our FSILG living communities. The Chapter Alumni Risk Management Advisor Program seeks to establish an ongoing working relationship between alumni and the MIT administration to provide another level of support for the Fraternity, Sorority, and Independent Living Group (FSILG) community and their membership. This is a specific, time-limited role, but one that can really help in young people’s unfolding lives. More than eighteen FSILGs have now defined such a role and more plan to do so.
As a result of participating in the CARMA program, we expect that CARMAs will:
- Build internal, strategic risk management capacity that will support FSILGs
- Develop skills that will enable open, honest dialogue between CARMAs and FSILG members that will promote a proactive risk management culture within organizations and provide a clear path for support in case of risk management emergencies
- Cultivate open, honest relationships with members of the MIT administration that will provide additional levels of education and support for FSILG members
- Cultivate relationships with other CARMAs to provide an internal network of support
ROLE DESCRIPTION:
Each Chapter Alumni Risk Management Advisor is provided with several opportunities throughout the year to meet with student risk managers, Alumni Risk Management Advisors from other chapters, and MIT administrators. They will learn what resources are available in the MIT community and also have opportunities to provide feedback on current educational initiatives like the Panhellenic Risk Management Program or the social host/server training, which is now required for two-thirds of the house membership as part of the Interfraternity Council alcohol certification process.
The Chapter Alumni Risk Management Advisors (CARMA) role description was first developed by several of the early alums who took on this role. Recently, the scope of the program was broadened to include wellness and related student health issues. Several recommended activities and discussion questions with chapter officers were also collected. As noted above, we also try to have at least two large group sessions each term, always with an invited guest. We typically meet with MIT administrators, IFC and Panhellenic leaders, and MIT Police to discuss issues such as the following:
- Current climate in the cities of Boston and Cambridge
- Role of the Alumni Risk Management Advisor & questions for discussion with the student risk manager
- Strategies to respond to substance abusing or at-risk individuals before their behavior impacts the community
- Emergency Medical Services and other MIT Medical resources
- Panhellenic Association programs and key initiatives
- IFC policies and IFC Judicial Committee bylaws
- Student health and wellness issues
This Program is sponsored by the AILG. If you are interested in participating, please contact Brad Badgley, Associate Dean and Director of the FSILG Office, bbadgley (at) mit.edu or 617-253-7546, Bob Ferrara ’67, Senior Director in the Division of Student Life at rferrara (at) mit.edu & 617-253-7495, or Don Camelio, Director of the CDSA at dcamelio (at) mit.edu or 617-253-4193.