On Oct. 6, all Eastern students received an email with a schedule for upcoming open sessions with candidates for university police chief.

Ryan Risinger’s session was on Oct. 8, and Joseph Przybyla’s session was on Oct. 12, and only a handful of students showed up to each one.

College students have busy schedules and many priorities, but we at The Daily Eastern News believe that one of those priorities should be following along with the process of hiring a new police chief for our school.

It isn’t that often that changes happens in such important positions on campus and being aware and involved with those processes is one of the ways students can shape Eastern into the best possible version of itself.

These sessions are open for a reason; students are being invited to meet these candidates so that they can form opinions before decisions have been made.

Once a candidate is chosen, there won’t be more opportunities to hear from the others, and even the new chief may be busy enough that discussions like this one won’t be frequent.

Part of being in college is transitioning into adulthood and being given a seat at the table when important things are happening. We shouldn’t ignore those opportunities when they’re offered to us.

This applies even more in instances like choosing a new police chief because police activity has been such a focus of debate and controversy in recent years.

Being involved in the process of choosing a new chief might not solve every problem you have with the police, but at least you can learn and maybe have an impact.