Eastern’s presidential search has been narrowed down to two finalists. One of the three original finalists, John Cavanaugh, vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, told the (Charleston)Times-Courier Tuesday he was out of the running.

Cavanaugh denied comment to The Daily Eastern News on Tuesday and didn’t return reporters’ phone calls Wednesday.

Also, despite its previous schedule, Eastern’s Board of Trustees said in a press release Tuesday it would not announce the new president at its Monday meeting. Vicki Woodard, university spokesperson, said the item had been deleted from the agenda.

The announcement was made at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

Faculty Senate Chair Bud Fischer, associate biology professor and member of the search committee, said the search is done under strict confidentiality, so although he is on the committee he does not know what to expect.

“I’m just waiting to see how the decision is reached,” he said.

On Wednesday, BOT Chair Nate Anderson said the board received unexpected news, which Anderson denied to comment on, that changed its plans.

Woodard said on April 19 that the university was in contract negotiations with one of the candidates.

The board will meet with the Presidential Search Advisory Committee at 1 p.m. on April 29, Anderson said, to further discuss the prospect. Later in the meeting the board will move to an executive session to discuss how to handle the situation.

Cavanaugh is currently involved in another presidential search at the University of West Florida, Keith Goldschmidt, UWF spokesperson, said.

Cavanaugh is one of three candidates to interview for president of the university of about 8,500 people. He visits their campus on May 6 and 7 for interviews.

The other two candidates, Philip Conn, vice chancellor for special programs at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Livingston Alexander, vice president for academic affairs at Kean University, are still in the search.

“I am a finalist. The search is ongoing, so contact with Eastern is maintained. I assume the BOT will make an announcement on Monday,” Conn said.

Conn did not comment on what conversations he has had with Eastern.

Alexander was unavailable for comment.

The search began last semester when the search committee was formed to review applications.

On February 27 and 28, off-campus interviews were held for eight out of the 51 applicants. From there, the three finalists were chosen, Alexander, Conn and Cavanaugh.

Alexander, the first to interview, spoke of his successes in minority recruitment and lobbying for funds at the federal level. At Kean, Alexander has worked with seven different unions and has collective bargaining experience.

Conn was the next to interview. He stressed his ability to create and maintain strong relationships with the community and said he was successful in soliciting funds during his presidency at Dickinson State University in North Dakota.

The final candidate, Cavanaugh, vocalized the improvements in admission standards while he’s been at Wilmington. The average SAT score jumped from 1097 to 1140, and minority applications increased 26 percent during his time there.