The Arizona Daily Wildcat puts the issues to the test. Do they make the grade?

President’s inauguration an opportunity to connect with UA students, community

President Ann Weaver Hart’s inauguration is set for Nov. 30. Planning is in full swing, and organizers hope to involve students in the event.

According to Jory Hancock, dean of the College of Fine Arts and chair of the inauguration planning committee, “It would be an odd thing to have a ceremony that didn’t acknowledge, first and foremost, the importance of students.”

Therefore, a pass goes to Hancock and the president’s inauguration planning committee.

“Everyone is there for that one day, and the president is able to reach out and touch all of those groups and interact with all of those groups in a single day,” Hancock also said. “There’s something symbolic about that, I feel.”

An inclusive inauguration event would be more than symbolic. Good university leaders are in tune with the student population on campus, and Hart’s all-day inauguration will be an ideal opportunity for her to connect. Indeed, the first few months of Hart’s time in office will set a precedent for how accessible she will be to the heart of the UA community.

Pima County seeks to clear the smoke from properties

Pima County employees may soon have to put the cigarettes away.

Smoking could become prohibited on or near any properties owned or supervised by the Board of Supervisors, who will vote on the issue later this year. The ban would change county buildings from being smoke-free to no smoking anywhere at any time by either employees or visitors to county properties.

Most alarmingly, the ban may eventually include testing employees on the county insurance plan for tobacco use.

According to County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry in an interview with the Arizona Daily Star, the ban and testing would reduce health care costs paid for by taxpayers.

But the smoking ban proposal gets a definite* fail*. While banning smoking on county properties for the sake of others is a fair move, testing employees for tobacco use sets Pima County down a slippery slope.

It may trim health care costs paid for by the public, but it does so by overstepping its bounds on the personal decisions made by individuals.

We’re all welfare queens, or at least 47 percent of us are

In a video shot at a private fundraiser this year and published Monday by Mother Jones magazine, Mitt Romney told donors that supporters of President Barack Obama can’t be convinced to “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, described 47 percent of voters as “dependent upon government,” calling them “victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.”

Prior to the incident, Romney described middle income as “$200,000 to $250,000 and less,” though the Census Bureau reported this week that median household income is only $50,000.

Is it even necessary to say Romney gets a fail? Because he does, for continually proving himself to be too out of touch with most Americans to be an electable candidate.

— Editorials are determined by the Arizona Daily Wildcat’s editorial board and written by one if its members. They are Bethany Barnes, Kristina Bui, Jason Krell and Alex Williams. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions.