Hommell the best leader for the student body
The Franklin endorses sophomore Aaron Hommell for Student Congress president.
Hommell, a former staff member of The Franklin, is creating a platform based around a similar ideal Barack Obama stressed while running for president of the United States: Change.
He and his opponent, sophomore Chelsi Mobley, both met with the editorial board Tuesday night.
Hommell criticized Student Congress and yearns to change the system for the better. He plans to change the current method of doing things in Congress, which he claimed is “marching in place.”
He wants to open Student Congress up to more students on campus. Although the meetings are already open to the student body, he said very few attend. The student body should be more involved in the governing system, since it, in essence, is what connects us with the administration.
Previous presidents have tried to push a campus-wide smoking ban through. But Hommell has expressed disagreement with the idea. We agree.
We cannot take away personal freedoms of students to smoke, something that is completely legal. Hommell raised the point that students “don’t have to stand there,” referring to standing immediately next to a smoker.
He is articulate and can converse well with students and the administration. But this could prove to be his downfall.
Hommell is very outspoken. This trait leads to the possibility that he could steal the show. We need a leader willing to work with members of Student Congress and President Moseley’s administration, not someone who will be difficult to talk to.
Overall, Hommell proves willing to make positive changes on campus, and that is why he gets The Franklin’s vote.
Chelsi Mobley is a very qualified person for the job of Student Congress. Having worked with Chelsi, she is an incredible, driven, EXPERIENCD leader who will do what is right for the campus of Franklin College. I am not saying that Aaron is not a good candidate for President, however, I don't believe he has the experience and is using his campaign of 'change' to get everyone in Shirk fired up. You did it last year, and in the end, you were left in the dust. The rest of campus did what they knew was right; they voted in the person with the most experience, who was the right choice for the job of President. With that being said, I will move onto my opinions about the smoking ban. Have you ever been to IU Medical Center's Simon Cancer Center? Have you had to sit in a waiting room full of people who are there to be diagnosed with cancer or are fighting the battle of their lives? I was actually there recently and heard a man telling a story of how he had lung cancer, but had never smoked a cigarette in his life. However, his coworkers did. And after 25 years, it took a toll on his body. A toll that he doesn't know if he will overcome. So many people have worked so hard for this smoking ban. The campus is the only place in Franklin that is not smoke-free. I see that Aaron is wanting the campus to open up to the community. Why would community members want to visit a campus where they will most likely walk through a cloud of smoke, instead of enjoy the beauty of our campus? I understand that it is your right to smoke. If you want to do that to yourself, fine with me. But when you are in a position to help save people's lives and promote a healthier campus by simply not allowing people to smoke on the small campus of Franklin College, isn't it worth it?
I am very sad to hear that Aaron Hommell will be in support of smoking on campus. I don't understand why anyone would be in support of second-hand smoke and lung cancer on a school campus. I hope the students voting at Franklin College are in support of living longer rather than smoking for five minutes to in danger their lives and the people around them. I will agree with Sarah11, the franklin did try to back the candidate last year and they got shot down. I hope the Franklin College students will make the better choice in this situation. Chelsi will be a great representative of Franklin College! GO CHELSI!
I would like to thank The Franklin for their support in this election. To the commenters above, I feel as if you must have missed the opportunity to go over my opinions or better yet my personal history when thinking about the potential smoking ban. There is no smoking in buildings on campus. There is no smoking inside the grounds of the football field. These are places where it would not be easy to get away from a smoker. Pushing smokers off campus is treating them like second class citizens while at the same time moving the problem into another's back yard. We would be pushing smokers into the Habitat House, PDT, SAE, homes across from Spurlock, as well as into the park. We do not have clouds of smoke billowing from our campus as some suggest. This is also a way for the community to again point out the campus as a place they wont want to visit. If students were pushing for this ban it would have happened in the last few years that it has been a topic. I don't believe that this topic has been brought up in Student Congress in the past year either. On a slightly more dark note: my mother died of cancer. I know the pain that a disease like cancer causes. I think it would behoove some people to realize that not all topics are personal. I do things for the school community as a whole, not to just help myself. As far as a healthier campus, I think that a program to help smokers quit would be the way to start fixing the health issues on our campus. It was not that long ago that smoking was allowed in dorms. We can promote a healthier Franklin College and Johnson County by pushing for some kind of program on campus that could pull in community members as well as students, together to help people in their fight to quit. This is the real way to clean up the campus as well as helping the community. This is the real way to get the town of Franklin to connect more with the College. This is the real way that any type of smoking ban will be passed. If you have any questions, please have no hesitation to catch me on my cell phone at (317) 627-8954 Thanks, Aaron Hommell
I myself am a pretty big fan of freedom and liberty, so even though I don't smoke and never will, it would be a real step backwards in the pursuit of civil liberties to make such a ban.
