Occupy For Education at De Anza, a student-organized forum for the discussion of educational issues, had its first gathering Jan. 10 when students camped out overnight in the main quad to raise awareness of how budget cuts are affecting De Anza College.

Inspired by the recent nationwide Occupy movements, the gatherings are planned to be held every Tuesday until Mar. 5, when De Anza Occupy will join other community college students in a march on Sacramento to protest cuts to education.

“Our goal is to promote public education as a human right and to bring to attention the issue of budget cuts in the format that the Occupy Movement has raised awareness on that issue along with several other,” student Luis Flores, an environmental studies major, said, “by bringing attention, drawing a crowd, and engaging in conversations.”

Students stopped by the tents to ask why an Occupy movement was at De Anza and what it was trying to accomplish.

Student Ben Stevenson, 20, said the reason for using the Occupy format isn’t to demand specific changes, but instead to get students thinking about how changes already happening are affecting them.

“Occupy isn’t about trying to fulfill the demands of some group,” Stevenson said. “It’s a big consciousness-raising tool. It’s about getting the people rallied, getting them all to know exactly what’s happening. Getting people aware and trying to critically think: that’s what Occupy is about.”

Occupy For Education attempts to do that by holding meetings in the form of an open discussion, where any De Anza student may jump in and share ideas.

Kiyo Ouchida, a student and facilitator of the meetings, began the first discussion by stating the goals of the meetings are to “empower students to speak out, to educate each other on issues that are relevant, to facilitate a safe space for discussions, to make resources and services more available to students, and to hopefully organize solutions for the problems that affect us as students.”

The topics discussed by the Occupy For Education ranged from the history and goals of the Occupy movement, to the increased price of De Anza’s daily parking passes, to the DASB Eco Pass, and even to the recent ban on plastic bags in San Jose. Attendees shared ideas for solutions to the problems caused by these issues.

While several of these topics arose organically out of conversations students were having, Ouchida also mentioned that several subjects for future meetings were already planned out.

“We’re going to be talking about the budget process, and why there’s no money for education, but we have money for wars, and banks,” said Ouchida. “Also, Valentine’s Day is coming up, so we’re thinking of doing one on feminism, patriarchy [and] male-privilege, but it’s really up to what people want to talk about.”

Occupy For Education at De Anza will be meeting in the main quad every Tuesday at 5 p.m., and will culminate with a Day of Action at De Anza on Mar. 1 followed by a trip to the Mar. 5 demonstration in Sacramento.