An Occupy DU committee developed an early draft of a mission statement declaring that Occupy DU seeks to give people a voice to protest income equality and corporate influence over politics during the first week of meetings, which began last week.

About 20 participants attended the meetings each time, one on Monday, Jan. 23 and one last Thursday. Participants were primarily made up of university graduate students.

The early draft of the statement, which the committee will continue work on in the coming week, declares Occupy that DU aims to, “provide a forum where students, staff, faculty and the general public can make their voices heard about issues such as income inequality, corporate influence over democracy and big money in politics.”

“I am there because I am deeply concerned and angry about current trends and dynamics in the US and around the world,” said International Relations professor Sasha Breger Bush, who attended the Occupy DU meetings and plans to be further involved.

During the meetings, participants also began to outline a basic plan of what the movement should look like, discussing such factors as events that should be held, committees to form and what issues Occupy DU should primarily be concerned with working to confront.

Several other committees were also developed to further develop the group’s website, to spread information to students and to coordinate with the larger Occupy Denver movement.

“It’s very early to say as to what we would like to accomplish,” said Breger Bush. “That’s the nature of the beast. If you try and move too fast you could compromise the effect of what you’re working towards.”

The next several weeks will give Occupy DU time to set more specific goals, as well as to recruit more active members to participate in discussions.

To spread information, the group plans to do tabling around DU, as well as to post flyers and to create informational pages on the website and Facebook.

“I would love to see a diverse group of people with ideas just talking about them,” said Breger Bush. “This is an unprecedented opportunity for people. It really creates a public space again.”

Occupy DU will meet in the grass between Sturm and the Sturm Library every Monday at noon and at 4:30 pm on Thursdays.