Mission Statement

 

The purpose of PLUMAS (Political Latinxs United For Movement and Action in Society) is to engage the Latinx community, its supporters at UMD, and the surrounding area by providing a safe space for students to vocalize and express their stance on issues affecting Latinxs both on and off-campus. We strive to create civic engagement and awareness of social and political issues through education, advocacy, and direct action. We recognize the diversity within the movement as our membership comprises of individuals from various nationalities, ethnicities, and genders. As such, PLUMAS is not limited to members who are of Hispanic or Latino/a/x ancestry. We welcome any individual no matter their creed, religion, race, sexual orientation, individual identity, and experience level. 

 

History

 

PLUMAS was created at UMD in February 2013 by UMD Alumnae Karen Guzman and Jennifer Avelar. The name PLUMAS was inspired by the idea that as students we are writing our own history at the University of Maryland-College Park Campus. In the Spanish language, a "pluma" can represent one of two things: a feather or a pen. For many cultures, such as for the Egyptian and Native American cultures, feathers also symbolize heightened awareness, light-heartedness, enlightenment, divinity, and progress. All of which are words that we find appropriate to correlate to the mission of PLUMAS. The birds flying away from the pluma in our logo represents the saying "Birds of a feather flock together" - meaning if you identify with PLUMAS, then you recognize that our liberation is bound together and that we need each other to fight for freedom and justice because many of the struggles that we face are also the struggles of all oppressed people.

 

What We Do

Since being founded in 2013, PLUMAS has become the voice for Latinx students on campus. We have advocated for workers' rights at UMD and immigrants' rights on a national level alongside United We Dream. We are committed to fighting against the diverse struggles that the Latinx community faces through education, political organizing, and direct action. 

 

We continue to advocate for equality and justice in our communities we also seek to empower and educate our youth as well as provide resources, skills, and professional/career opportunities to students on campus and individuals in the surrounding PG community.