A local progressive activist group is exploring the possibility of opening a student chapter at Binghamton University.

Indivisible Binghamton is one of over 2,000 chapters across the United States working to “elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.” Founded in 2016, the movement began after the publication of “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda,” a short handbook to guide activists in encouraging resistance against the Trump administration’s policies. It now has millions of members nationwide.

Linda Quilty and Barbara Mullen, co-leads of the local Indivisible chapter, told Pipe Dream they want to encourage and recruit more young people into the organization.

“Right after Trump was elected the first time, we went around and said to everybody, ‘Why are you here?’” Quilty said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “And I said, ‘I’m here because I have the time, now that I’m retired, time and energy to put in for all the people who are younger and involved in their own lives, raising their families. They don’t have the time and energy to do that. So we’re fighting for the younger people, because this is going to affect the younger people more.”

“However, we’re all eight years older than we were then, and this has become more and more of an emergency to the next generation that we really find it very important that they start taking the helm and working,” Quilty continued.

In recent years, Indivisible Binghamton has organized protests, mobilized resources and campaigned on behalf of Democratic candidates across the country. In the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia, the organization wrote postcards to voters encouraging them to vote for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both of whom won their seats.

Recently, Indivisible members helped arrange a food drive for the Broome County Council of Churches and organized this year’s “No Kings” rallies protesting the Trump administration and other Republican officials. On Oct. 18, thousands of people gathered downtown [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/community-demonstrates-against-trump-administration-in-second-no-kings-protest/171629/] with homemade signs, one of over 2,700 nationwide rallies held that day.

Last month, along with Citizen Action of New York and the 50501 Movement, Indivisible Binghamton organized a Labor Day rally [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/workers-over-billionaires-protestors-march-down-court-street-in-labor-day-rally/168969/] to mobilize in support of workers’ rights.

After President Donald Trump was reelected, Quilty said more people started attending meetings at the Vestal Public Library. Mullen and Quilty partially attributed this to more people being concerned about who is running the federal government and the state of democracy.

Two days before Trump was sworn into office in January, Indivisible and other activist groups spearheaded a rally [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/two-days-before-second-trump-presidency-begins-activists-gather-downtown-to-protest-his-policies/160181/] downtown for human rights. In March, Citizen Action and Indivisible organized a protest [HYPERLINK: https://www.bupipedream.com/news/local-activists-and-community-members-rally-against-potential-medicaid-cuts/164338/] with Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado against Medicaid cuts.

The organization reached out to the University’s chapter of the New York Public Interest Research Group and Zero Hour Binghamton, an environmental justice organization, to discuss next steps.

A few weeks ago, Indivisible Binghamton met with Kayla Katona, the president of Zero Hour and a senior double-majoring in environmental studies and political science, to discuss what a University chapter might look like. They also attended one of Zero Hour’s general body meetings to discuss how students can get involved in the local community.

“At Zero Hour Bing, we try to emphasize the importance of community involvement and expanding our efforts beyond campus,” Katona wrote in an email. “Indivisible Binghamton is a community organization actively fighting for left-leaning ideas, including environmental concerns, thus linking the two. Both organizations are actively trying to foster civic engagement and achieve their goals through community and optimism.”

As of now, it is unclear whether a BU Indivisible chapter would be an individual organization or a coalition of student groups working together, Katona said.

Indivisible also contacted the Center for Civic Engagement, which sent them information about the Student Association chartering process.

The New York Public Interest Research Group did not return Pipe Dream’s comment request.

The national Indivisible movement has a Campus Toolkit on its website for students looking to create a group at their college or university. The toolkit urges students to organize and invite their local congressional representatives to events like town halls.

“The reality is a lot of us and the people that are active were people that in the 1960s were against the war in Vietnam, they were for civil rights, they were for women’s lib, they were for LGBTQ rights and now, we’re at the front line yet again,” Mullen told Pipe Dream.

Editor’s Note: Kayla Katona, president of Zero Hour Binghamton, is Pipe Dream Arts & Culture writer. She had no part in the writing or editing of this article.