UNC board leaders originally agreed to a lucrative exit package for departing N.C. State University Chancellor James Oblinger.

Then, they flip-flopped.

During the weekend that he accepted Oblinger's resignation, UNC system President Erskine Bowles cut a deal that would have allowed the former chancellor to keep his $420,000 salary for six months before he settled back into a faculty salary and teaching position.

But last month, the UNC Board of Governors rewrote the terms, cutting Oblinger to a $173,000 salary immediately. Bowles said that the board chairwoman, Hannah Gage, and vice-chairman, Peter Hans, were consulted on the original deal, reports Steve Riley.

"Peter and Hannah did change their minds," Bowles said. "They had their own rationale for doing that. They did what they thought was right. I gave my word, and that's it for me. I did what I felt was right."

At the board's meeting last month, Gage said that the board "acknowledged [Oblinger's] enormous contributions but felt there needed to be consequences for some things that went terribly wrong."

Marvin Schiller, Mary Easley's lawyer, said today that Easley won't resign from her post at N.C. State University.

At a press conference this morning, Schiller, a Raleigh attorney, said she received the job "on her merits" and read letters of performance for Easley.

Easley smiled at Schiller's side while he read letters, but did not speak.

"You are a great ambassador for N.C. State in so many ways," Schiller read from one letter written by Larry Nielson, former N.C. State provost, who resigned over Easley's hiring.

"Mary Easley plans to continue to make outstanding contributions to North Carolina State University and North Carolina," he said.

Mary Easley has been urged to resign by Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC system, N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger and Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC Board of Governors. They all said she should leave for the good of the university.

First Lady Mary Easley's nearly $80,000 raise appears to have violated a University of North Carolina policy.

Under a systemwide policy intended to provide an extra layer of scrutiny to unusually large pay increases, the UNC governing board must approve raises topping 15 percent or $10,000. Her raise was 88 percent.

"It appears to me that this is the size increase that should come before the board," said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the board of governors. "We have this policy that in essence checks and balances, so there's a second set of eyes that looks at significant increases."

In a statement, N.C. State said that it has "historically" interpeted the system policy incorrectly and given raises without the board's approval. The UNC system will look into Easley's contract and all other N.C. State contracts with fixed-term, non-tenure-track faculty.

In a statement, Easley said: "I am happy to have my position, duties and responsibilities reviewed." (N&O)

A new report says North Carolina needs more highly educated, skilled workers than the state's higher education system can provide.

That was one of the primary findings of a report today to the group setting a future course for the UNC system, reports Jane Stancill.

The UNC Tomorrow Commission heard a flurry of daunting statistics about the state's economic and demographic changes.

By 2014, North Carolina will need 400,000 new workers with bachelor's degrees. But the state's public and private colleges are expected to produce only 254,000 of these workers. Colleges would have to produce more than 15,000 more graduates each year to fill the gap.

"The sheer volume of that left me breathless," said Hanna Gage, a member of the UNC Board of Governors.