Welcome, Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley.

It’s going to be an exciting next three years with you now placed permanently at the head of the district. As interim chancellor, you quickly sprang into action, tackling all sorts of issues from a lawsuit about First Amendment rights to enticing the TCC community to prepare for the next five years through strategic planning sessions.

TCC is curious to see what changes come next. As students, The Collegian would like to help by offering a few suggestions.

Though the job as permanent chancellor is one TCC has had for about 40 years, every person who fills the position makes the job new and different. This is a golden opportunity for you and students to learn more about each other.

It’s a chance for students to learn what you are doing about issues that face the school. It’s a chance for you and the college to know much better what students sacrifice to pass a course or take a test.

An opportunity exists for you and students to meet on more of a personal level, finding a balance with personal understanding and policy. Now is the perfect time to do that.

Take, for instance, child care — there is only one day care center that exists among all five campuses. It is tied to an academic program and requires children attend full time. Yet, plenty of students have children and struggle to find a place for them to stay while parents attend school.

It would be interesting to see administrators sit down with parents and see how the district can improve this service throughout all five campuses. With drop-in day care on each campus, students can better gain the education they want without worrying about their children.

You and the district are working to unite the five campuses, and we encourage that. But with this new change in administration, we also recognize that it’s not often when students and the district interact as a district-at-large, cutting across all TCC campuses.

You could hold group meetings with students on a monthly or even bi-monthly basis, spending time discussing TCC on a more intimate level.

Let’s be honest. Most students don’t know too much of what the district does. To open that door could unite the community in a much stronger way than before. It would give students a greater opportunity to develop TCC and, at the same time, give the district the chance to hear what students would like to see done to improve their education.

We hope you and the college embrace this opportunity to help form a more united future. You’ve done well so far, but more can be done.

Please, keep it up. You’re heading in the right direction.