A small group of students gathered at the Social Work Building on Feb. 27 for a meeting to reestablish a Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) student-run chapter at the University of Maine after the club died out in 2016 due to graduating club members. This initial gathering was arranged by MPA community organizer Megan Smith in partnership with social work students Gabrielle Wiley, Drew Parent and Professor of Social Work Robin Russel. In the coming weeks, the meetings will be spearheaded by student group members, with Smith maintaining an advisory role. The group discussed the chapter’s potential role in helping students organize and advocate for change, ways to recruit more members and concerns over a wide range of recent political developments.
Having recently celebrated its 40th anniversary as an organization, Smith shared that MPA leads grassroots movements for progressive social change and operates as Maine’s largest community action organization with over 32,000 members. According to their mission statement, they have occupied a leading role in “state campaigns for expanded health care access, toxics use reduction, affordable housing, universal home care, clean elections reform, racial justice, immigrant rights, a higher minimum wage and tax fairness,” among other topics of concern.
Smith then mentioned some highlights also listed in MPA’s 2024 annual report, including organizing career fairs to recruit BIPOC and other marginalized workers into pipelines for union green energy jobs. They also lobbied in support of LD2115, a bill sponsored by MPA/MPRC Research Director and Senator Mike Tipping that would prohibit medical debt collectors from charging any interest, fees or filing lawsuits against Maine residents over medical debt.
After covering basic information, the meeting shifted to group introductions and students shared some of their personal reasons for attending the meeting along with what initially involved them in political activism.
“I really got into politics and political advocacy last year when everything started in Gaza, and ever since then I’ve been running Here4TheKids at UMaine and working with UMaine Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) to shed more light on that issue,” said economics student Megan Sauberlich.
Computer Engineering Student and UMaine JVP Vice President Willow Cunningham echoed Sauberlich’s commitment to advocating for change in Gaza.
“Like Megan, I wasn’t really politically active until the genocide in Gaza started, and since then I’ve been working with the JVP here on campus. And our long-term goal is to get the UMaine Board of Trustees to divest from complicit corporations,” said Cunningham. “More recently, we’ve seen the total disaster that is American politics, especially right now with the general lack of strong organizing here on campus. I’m really here tonight because I want MPA to be able to increase political organizing here.”
Another common theme that could be linked to a perceived lack of strong organizing on campus was the spread of isolationism and its disruptive impact on grassroots organizing for social change. Social work and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Student Drew Parent summarized these sentiments well.
“Especially following the height of the COVID pandemic, we’re seeing students are afraid to engage with each other. They don’t want to talk in real life, they don’t want to engage with each other outside of digital spaces…So it’s super important for me to join communities on campus just for the purpose of community building because there’s so much value in that,” said Parent.
Others shared their reasons for attending were rooted in concerns over recent executive orders issued by the Trump Administration that target marginalized groups and progressive beliefs, such as UMaine undergoing a Title IX compliance review tied to an executive order issued by the Trump Administration on Feb. 5 that seeks to enforce a ban on transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports. Social Work student Gabrielle Wiley shared thoughts on the consequences of Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences.”
“The attack on DEI, we’re seeing all the same tactics now [in Maine] that they use at city halls and state houses across the country where they [conservatives] are threatening legal action. Supporters of the order are saying, ‘You are using defaming bullying language,’ and it’s like, ‘No, I’m calling you what you are — your ideas are fascist. You are using hateful language. You are being transphobic, you are being racist and we are not bullying you.’ These are the facts,” said Wiley.
Towards the end of the meeting, attendees expressed optimism about the group’s potential to foster meaningful change on campus and serve as a space for students to share community updates, voice political concerns and build a supportive space for grassroots organizing on campus in the coming months.
UMaine’s MPA chapter plans to meet again at 6 p.m. on March 13 in the Social Work Building. Interested students are encouraged to check UMaine’s School of Social Work Instagram page for updates or contact MPA community organizer, Megan Smith, at megans@mainepeoplesalliance.org.
