TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- Around 40 people attended

first meeting on the University of Alabama Quad Friday night to make the first steps in organizing the group.

Although attendees -- mostly students -- did discuss many of the issues at the center of the

movement that began three weeks ago in New York City, most of their time at the foot of Denny Chimes was spent planning to organize in several committees and to create a clear message for the group.

Lauren McClusky, a UA sophomore involved with student environmental group Eco, said the group will begin sorting out specifics at its next meeting at 7 p.m. Sunday in the basement of Palmer Hall, the Mallet Assembly dorm.

"A lot of this meeting was organizational, because it is our first meeting," McClusky said. "So we talked about what we want as a group, what our goals are, how we should go about putting our message out there and things like that. So we're going to get the ball rolling on Sunday, which is our next meeting."

McClusky said Occupy Tuscaloosa formed out of an awareness of the larger movement through social media. Another attendee pointed to the influence of Occupy Birmingham, which claimed

.

"People are really aware of the movement and they've seen how it's cropped up in other universities and other cities and they see this group as a way to air their grievances and participate in democracy, and stand up for what they think is right," McClusky said. "It just sort of evolved organically -- a lot of this movement is really spontaneous -- and I think it's a great thing.

Like participants in the Occupy Wall Street protests that began three weeks ago in New York City, most attendees voiced varied concerns over issues of economic inequality and social justice. Several spoke out against deregulation and the influence of corporations on the U.S. political system.

Other topics of discussion included Alabama's new immigration law, state constitutional reform and the death penalty.

"I know that this is a national movement, but I think that we can add a lot of power to our specific Occupy Tuscaloosa group by focusing on issues that are specific to Alabama right now," McClusky said. "That involves our immigration law, poverty, race issues, pretty much anything that is problematic in Alabama right now, including issues of economic justice, because obviously this movement started on Wall Street. So it is about money. Unfortunately, everything is about money in the end. That's the way it is."