Eastern’s final presidential candidate, John Cavanaugh, brings the support and praise of many of his colleagues with him to campus.

Representatives of the faculty and administration at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, describe their provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs as cooperative and an accessible leader.

However, the president of the university’s Student Government Association said the provost has not been as receptive to student input, especially with regard to the university budget and campus diversity.

Adrien Lopez, president of the association similar to Eastern’s Student Senate, said Cavanaugh did not initially seek the SGA’s input before presenting next year’s tuition and fee increases to the state’s Board of Governors. The SGA does not have a formal stake in the approval process, unlike Eastern, where the senate and the Tuition and Fee Review Committee it oversees provide students a forum to discuss such increases.

“It’s not that we were so opposed to (the increases) we just wanted to have a voice in it,” Lopez said Thursday.

The increases, originally presented to the board in January, were not approved until earlier this month Lopez said the approval process was postponed after the SGA led a campus protest to make its concerns heard.

While Lopez said the SGA was unhappy with Cavanaugh’s handling of the proposed increases, members of the university’s faculty and administration contend the provost assumed a key leadership role at a time when state budget cuts forced UNC-Wilmington to raise tuition and fees.

“No one ever really wants to do that,” Patricia Leonard, UNC-Wilmington’s vice chancellor for student affairs, said, admitting that may not be the perception among students. However, Cavanaugh has kept students informed of the process, “so that they can understand it not like it,” Leonard said Wednesday.

While the president expressed dissatisfaction with Cavanaugh’s communication skills, Mark Spaulding, vice president of UNC-Wilmington’s Faculty Senate is pleased with his provost.

“John has a lot of respect for the senate and is a firm believer in faculty governance,” which he said is a big departure from his predecessor. “I think the senate probably has a better relationship with the provost than it has had in some time.”

Cavanaugh came to UNC-Wilmington in 1999 after seven years at the University of Delaware, where he chaired a department and served in various administrative positions, including vice president for academic programs and planning.

Cavanaugh brought with him a doctorate in psychology from Notre Dame and until recently has continued to teach at UNC-Wilmington.

“I personally observed him teaching and he’s like one of the best teachers I’ve ever seen,” Andy Jackson, chair of UNC-Wilmington’s psychology department, said Wednesday. “He is a person that is an excellent teacher, an excellent writer and an excellent faculty member as well as as an administrator.”

Jackson praised Cavanaugh for being “very open about the issues” and “doing his best to find budget cuts that do not cut classes or student services.”

Cavanaugh also installed a mentoring program for faculty who want to become administrators or who would like to consult with a faculty member from another department, Jackson said.

Spaulding said Cavanaugh has led an effort to universalize the process by which faculty are promoted and achieve tenure at UNC-Wilmington, a university where faculty are not unionized. An ad hoc committee was selected by the Faculty Senate to help convert sporadic and fragmented departmental guidelines into one policy.

“Do I agree with every decision he’s made? No, but in general he’s very open and is a big believer in faculty governance,” Spaulding said. “I’d be very sorry to see him go – I know it sounds corny, but I mean it very genuinely.”

Leonard agreed.

“If y’all get him you’re going to be very happy,” she said. “It’s going to be our loss.”