HSF Presidential By-Election Series: Patrick Millerd

Sep 25, 2014 | Campus News

Patrick Millerd

By Kathleen Jolly

Profile

Patrick Millerd’s vision for the Humber Students Federation started two years ago, when he came up with an idea for an HSF run by all full time students.

“Two years ago I started designing it I guess in my head and then finally got around to making it and now it’s ready for some sort of test deployment,” said the second year comedy student at Humber Lakeshore.

Millerd said he took his mother by surprise with his plan to run for politics, coming from a comedy background.

“My mom was really surprised too, she was like, ‘Those aren’t related at all.’ Both involve public speaking and getting in front of people. There’s some connection there,” he said.

 

Platform

The 26 year-old from Victoria, B.C., wants to create a fully threaded online forum in which all full-time Humber students can submit and edit proposals.

“I developed this way that all students could come online and discuss events and ideas on how to improve Humber life together.”

He sees this having a Reddit kind of model, where the most popular proposals would come to the top of the page. Millerd said he would then edit the most popular proposals.

A vote with 75 per cent approval from students would pass these proposals, after which Millerd would use HSF funds to make them a reality.

“Give every full time student an account, then together we craft proposals, debate ideas, agree on statements, reach compromises and vote on finalized plans,” said Millard whose platform is posted on HSF’s website.

Millerd said he’s received criticism about possibly not having the authority to make some of the changes that get proposed.

“As long as there’s enough student support behind any idea that’s only going to increase the chances of us being able to properly implement it,” he said, adding that “if 7,000 kids want some proposal to be done, I think that’s a lot more powerful than just me trying to fix everything.”

Millerd said he would use his presidency as a mediating role, and eventually sees an HSF completely run by students, with no president.

 

Fun facts

The comedy student does stand up at Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club in Toronto. His material includes politics, wordplay, and lately he’s also been using last year’s HSF controversy and Rob Ford.

His favourite comedians are Bill Hicks and George Carlin, because they’re all about fighting the power.

He likes all sports, and says anytime there’s a pickup game, he’s ready to get his jeans dirty.