Natalia de Gravelles wanted to give University of Maryland students a chance to turn their political beliefs into action.
She formed Terps Indivisible, a new student group focused on lobbying for progressive causes. The group’s name derives from an online guide created by former congressional staff members to resist the Trump administration through education and appealing to members of Congress, said de Gravelles, a junior history and sociology major and the group’s president.
Casey Gawron, the club’s treasurer, said lobbying is what sets Terps Indivisible apart from other political groups on the campus. The group plans to organize students to lobby their congressional representatives about issues they care about.
“A lot of students can go to protests and rallies,” Gawron said. “That is great. But lobbying takes it a step further.”
[Read more: A campus organization at UMD aims to give a political voice to Muslim students]
The group plans to focus mostly on reproductive rights at the moment, Gawron said.
At its first meeting Jan. 31, about 12 students gathered to discuss possible plans for the semester, de Gravelles said. Terps Indivisible is working with NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland — a state affiliate of NARAL Pro-Choice America — a nonprofit organization working on making emergency contraceptives on college campuses more accessible.
Several members of Terps Indivisible will head to Annapolis on March 14 for the hearing of a bill in the House of Delegates. The bill, introduced Feb. 9, would make it easier for students at Maryland college campuses to access emergency contraceptives.
While the group will be protesting some actions of the Trump administration, such as his travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries that was halted by a federal judge, they want to maintain a nonpartisan status, Gawron said. Instead, they prefer to call the group “progressive,” they added.
Terps Indivisible, which currently has about 10 members, is inclusive to everyone, regardless of their party affiliation, de Gravelles said.
“We’re just saying we’re progressive because progress is good,” she said.
The group’s general platform is centered on human rights, said Terps Indivisible Vice President Alexis Tanenbaum. Republicans are encouraged to participate, she said.
[Read more: UMD Trump supporters say they feel voiceless on a liberal campus]
“A lot of people might want to support the president,” said Tanenbaum, a junior psychology major, but some of those people might not agree with President Trump’s stances on certain issues, such as immigration or the environment.
Environmental advocates are worried about the future of the environment under Trump, who has tweeted that climate change is a hoax and said he would like to get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency. On Feb. 16, he signed a bill to end a coal mining regulation that would help protect waterways from coal mining waste.
“To say what [Trump] is doing is representative of all Republicans and what they believe in, I think, would be a lie,” said freshman government and politics major Victoria Nefflen.
Nefflen added that she knows many people who call themselves Republicans but do not agree with every action Trump’s administration has taken so far. She hopes students who want to take political action but are hesitant to join another political group associated with a particular party will feel welcome at Terps Indivisible.
At the group’s next meeting on Thursday, leaders will hold an information session about the basics of lobbying and how to speak with government representatives, de Gravelles said.
