On Oct. 11, the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Legislative Council convened for the third time this academic year. Although meetings are traditionally held in the Lev Bukhman room in the SSMU Building, this Council was hosted at McGill’s Macdonald Campus in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.

Thursday’s Council meeting was the first in a series of “roaming Councils” SSMU will host throughout the year. According to SSMU President Josh Redel, the goal of “roaming Councils” is to break away from operating out of a single building, and to reach out to other McGill student spaces.

“By going to different places, it allows councillors to gain perspective on other students at McGill, and [as a result], I hope that councillors are better able to make informed decisions,” Redel said. “It [also] allows other students to come watch and ask questions at Council in the comfort of a familiar environment.”

Redel explained that the purpose of travelling to Macdonald Campus for Thursday’s meeting was to help SSMU councillors understand the types of challenges the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS) faces.

“I think we can also learn a lot from [MCSS],” Redel said. “In my experience … I found that smaller schools and faculties can often lend lessons to the bigger associations that often lose sight of the importance of getting to know students at a more personal level.”

According to Redel, future locations of “roaming Councils” will include residences, student areas in different faculties, and other venues across campus.

Council began with a presentation from SSMU Sustainability Coordinator David Gray-Donald, who spoke about the creation and history of sustainability initiatives and policies at McGill, as well as the university’s lack of a concrete sustainability strategy.

“[The former director of the McGill Office of Sustainability] didn’t think there was a need for a strategy,” Gray-Donald said. “We have all these [projects] going on as a policy, [and] there’s lot of money… but no strategy.”

Gray-Donald also elaborated on the Office of Sustainability’s Vision 2020 project, a year-long consultation process intended to lead to a sustainability strategy.

“Vision 2020 … started in February,” he explained. “[The Office has] been doing an analysis of where we are with sustainability at McGill. [We’ve created] five working groups [to address] five areas or dimensions of the university that we want to see sustainability happening in.”

Following Gray-Donald’s presentation, councillors voted on the only motion on the agenda for the evening. The motion concerned the increase of the SSMU “Safety Network” fee by $0.50 for all students at McGill’s downtown campus, with the increase going towards the McGill Student Emergency Response Team (M-SERT).

M-SERT is one of the 21 student-run, volunteer services offered through SSMU, and provides emergency first-aid response to McGill’s downtown campus and residences, as well as at various McGill events.

SSMU Vice-President Clubs and Services Allison Cooper explained to councillors that M-SERT is requesting an increase to SSMU’s base fee in order to offset its current operation costs, as well as the planned expansion of its coverage on campus and in Montreal.

The motion passed quickly, with 21 votes for, two against, and one abstention. M-SERT must now submit its question to a referendum—the date for which has not yet been decided. The motion read that the extra fee would be applied starting in the winter 2013 semester.

In response to Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi’s report on last spring’s Open Forum on Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly, SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Haley Dinel announced that she will be involved in a group working on his recommendation to clarify the wording of the Code of Student Conduct.

“I am co-chairing a committee with Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures and Equity) Lydia White that is partly responsible for review of the Greenbook,” Dinel said. “[The] report will really help us figure out how to better change the Code of Student Conduct.”

SSMU Vice-President Finance and Operations Jean Paul Briggs also announced that, starting this week, the Operations Management Committee will be conducting a feasibility study of the student-run café alongside team members from the Sustainability Case Competition. Briggs’ executive report to Council stated that the goal is to have the study completed in four to six weeks.