Eastern in is transition. Within the week we will have a new chief of police, who, in turn, will be expected immediately to deal with a growing scrutiny of law enforcement on top of the existing issues that come with a college population—all while in the midst of an unprecedented budget crisis.

It would be easy to implore Eastern’s students to go easy on the new chief of police. The News would like to ask, preliminarily, that students indeed work to make the new chief of police welcome.

However, we are also bound to make some demands. Students: stand up for the values you believe in. Hold your authority figures to these values.

It can be hard standing up to authority in order to preserve your convictions. Sometimes protecting your values can even be dangerous, legally or physically. This country, though, was built on the backs of dedicated and tenacious individuals who fought to have their values represented in the legal code and, by extension, our collective moral code.

The most dangerous part about fighting for your beliefs is when you must walk the thin line between pressuring your authority figures to uphold your values and actively working against authority. The Daily Eastern News does not advocate civil disruption or disobedience except in extreme circumstances.

Instead, we recommend working in tandem with authorities to improve the legal and moral landscape in your local and national arenas.

We ask students, staff, faculty and locals to please make their values evident to local authority figures and to help those in positions of power to uphold those values for the good of all residents, permanent and otherwise.