David Lipson
Senior Reporter

We Help. Give. Humber Life.  The Humber Students’ Federation was able to back up its punctuated slogan last week.  It hosted two popular events that proved students aren’t apathetic about school issues, they’re just selective about the wrong ones.  How did HSF – which had a 10.5 per cent election turnout last year – manage to draw large crowds this time around?  IPods, Xbox, and milk chugging.
HSF hosted its inaugural IPod battle last Wednesday. Hundreds of students showed up for the three hour plus DJ competition. This is how an IPod battle works. Students try to one-up each other by playing songs from their coveted playlists. The person who gets the most raucous crowd response wins a Mac book.  But the real winner of the day was HSF.  It proved it could host an event that students will attend.
Compare the IPod battle to HSF’s fall bi-annual general meeting held Oct. 8. It is one of the few events during the school year when students can vote on HSF issues such as the approval of board directors.  A critical mass of 50 signatures was needed to start the meeting.  The event was a farce.  It took 30 minutes of incessant pleading over a public address system until enough names were collected. Most students at the meeting were disengaged, talking among themselves. I asked HSF Executive Director Ercole Perrone if he thought the event was humourous.  “I wouldn’t say it’s humourous, I’d say it’s frustrating,” he said.  “We do so much to engage students.”
Students were engaged last week at an HSF event where a man vomited chocolate milk through his nostrils in a celebratory response to winning an Xbox.  The milk drinking competition was so popular that HSF could only choose 14 students to compete from more than 40 requests.  HSF does give Humber life, and apparently a gag reflex too.
But many students don’t realize they give HSF life. Students pay a mandatory $416 student government and non-tuition fee each semester.  HSF says it spends 61 cents from every dollar it receives on student services. This money helps host events such as the Ipod battle and chocolate milk drinking contests. It also funds student elections and the bi-annual general meetings that attract pitiful crowds.
HSF needs more than a 10.5 per cent voter turnout to truly give Humber life. But this month showed that many students don’t care who represents them – just who hands out the most prizes.