It was a somber mood at the University of Sydney today. V.S.U., as all (who are concerned) are aware, has been passed. To counter this, the S.R.C. is attempting to get full funding provided by the University with, alas, no strings attached. Of course, all the people under threat of having to actually attend lectures and tutorials (alas, the cruel world!) proclaim that with a showing of "force" V.S.U. will effectively be annulled when the University pays for everything, and thus, they are out, urging everyone to attend today's, well, interesting form of protest. Yes, they plan (I suspect) on interrupting the Senate meeting tonight where I believe they are talking about the funding. Yes, they are making a scene. And, yes, the left-wingers have their chance to peddle their Socialist Alternative group, their Left Weekly paper and their anti-authoritarian/hairbrush dreadlocks. But, all this in the form of a camp out.

Yes, on the lawns across from Fisher Library, are a whole bunch of ..... tents. And people. And security. In fact, when I left, security had outnumbered the protesters. However, I doubt that will be the case at the minute the clock-tower hits 4:30 and the Senate meeting is underway. For all I care the Senate can fund the Union. For all I also care, they could choose not too. I'm that apathetic towards the Union now that I'm not forced to pay any Union fees. The Union could exist or the Union could die in the self-wallowing dung-hole that they currently reside in.

What I am interested in is what (I imagine) will be happening when the Senate meeting finishes, or is called off due to the protester's interference. And if this were to happen, well, I may very well look more favourably upon the ol' S.R.C. from here on:

- The protesters are eventually ushered out of the Main Quad. and back to their Tent Embassy rip-off
- They proceed to produce acoustic guitars and sing rounds of Kumbaya
- Eventually everyone gets hungry and they migrate towards Broadway for food because their Union builds and stores have closed for the day, thus proving the point that one can exist on campus without having to use Union-funded facilities
- They all return, though, with significantly more numbers as the homeless have joined the "crusade" (or are looking for a place to sleep)
- They begin to light up camp fires and, because most of the students present are drunk through attending sessions at Manning Bar rather than their lectures, they continue to sing Kumbaya
- Someone breaks out the hash (because we all know that the Union is really only a front for drug-taking and alcohol consumption) and everyone gets stoned in their little tepees
- I return to University tomorrow to find a few dozen baked S.R.C. members and supporters crawling out of their collapsed tents to find that the Senate has actually taken the advice of their hired advisers (PriceWaterouseCoopers none-the-less) and have stripped the Union down to the bare-basics, cut back on the costs and have mailed them all a check for $15.83 for the running costs of next year

For once I'm actually looking forward to going tomorrow.

Clayton Northcutt.