The Facts:

The University community said good bye to its chancellor of the past year, James Woodward, in a ceremony at Talley Student Center Tuesday. Woodward, who was the University’s chancellor after a very difficult, corruption-ridden summer, received a warm parting gesture from a large group of faculty, staff and students.

Our Opinion:

James Woodward was certainly a force for good on this campus and will be missed by students. His leadership was essential to the University in the past year.

Serving a difficult role he never asked for — during the year he often spoke of how eager he was to return to his dog and wife in Charlotte after the interim term — Woodward guided the University out of severe turbulence and into a calmer, though difficult, environment.

The state of higher education — rising enrollment with shrinking faculty rates and packed classrooms — was even more desperate when he accepted the year-long chancellery as a favor to the University community and the UNC system President Erskine Bowles; huge General Assembly driven budget cuts were on the horizon and the situation seemed bleak. Throughout, Woodward handled the situation with the careful hand it needed and took the time to explain the implications to the University community.

That’s not to say the year was free of controversy, though; many students, faculty and alumni were uneasy about two of his biggest policy initiatives — the Talley Student Center renovations and new chancellor’s house. But, to his credit, Woodward was resolute and always did what he thought was in the best interest of the University.

He took a complicated job few people envied and performed it in a matter befitting the state’s largest University.

The eyebrow-raising policy moves and difficult year aside, Woodward was truly a students’ chancellor. He was at the games, in the board rooms and out with the campus, serving students’ needs as best he could.

The University certainly looks forward to the arrival of its new chancellor, Randy Woodson, but it will also fondly remember the leadership of Woodward.

With kind words, and fond memories, those who had interaction with him will certainly be saying heartfelt farewells this week for a leader apart and a force for students at the University.

The second floor of Talley Student Center undoubtedly paid testament to that Tuesday with its large audience of faculty, staff and students who came to say their own good bye to a man who led when the campus needed it most.