N.C. State University Provost Larry Nielsen and former Chancellor James Oblinger had a discussion on May 13 about Nielsen's imminent departure as provost. The talk that day covered legal issues.

Both men have recently appeared before a federal grand jury that has sought records about the hiring of former first lady Mary Easley, J. Andrew Curliss reports. Both were involved in that hiring decision, records have shown.

In response to a public records request, the university has produced two different severance deal letters that Nielsen and Oblinger both signed. Both are dated May 13. And both would have allowed for Nielsen to receive an elevated salary for three years.

The letters, both written by Oblinger, are addressed to Nielsen and serve as the chancellor's "acceptance of your resignation" on May 13. They outline the terms of a deal that, once it was disclosed publicly last month as being for three years, generated controversy and played a part in Oblinger's own resignation. The university has since said that neither letter holds any value; Nielsen's severance was reduced to a six-month exit plan payout that he was offered originally in 2005 upon taking the job.

There is only one difference between the two severance letters: In one of them, a six-line paragraph is added that addresses potential legal action. "This also will confirm our discussion," Oblinger wrote in the inserted section, that if Nielsen requests defense in "any civil or criminal action or proceeding brought against you in your official or individual capacity" then that request will be sent to the proper person in the state Attorney General's office.

Officials have said the state is not paying for lawyers for either man.

Nielsen actually wrote a resignation letter that was released to the public and it is dated May 14, the day after Oblinger had already accepted Nielsen's resignation, according to the severance letters. On May 14, Nielsen wrote to his colleagues, "Today I submitted my resignation..." and he writes that Oblinger has accepted.

At a news conference on May 14, Oblinger said that Nielsen had come to him to resign and that he had tried at one point to convince him to stay on.

NCSU Chancellor James L. Oblinger resigned this morning after days of shifting explanations about a deal he cut for former provost Larry Nielsen when Nielsen stepped down last month.

Both men are at the heart over a controversy about how former state first lady Mary Easley gained a job at the university in 2005, then an 88-percent pay hike last year to a $170,000 salary, Andy Curliss and Jay Price report.

Last month McQueen Campbell, a friend of the Easleys who Gov. Mike Easley had appointed to the NCSU board of trustees, admitted to UNC system President Erskine Bowles that he had told Oblinger that Easley was looking for work.

Nielsen, then interim provost, then hired Easley.

After Erskine called for him to resign, Campbell did. Nielsen quickly followed, citing the stress of media scrutiny of the deal.

Then came the changing stories about Nielsen's benefit package, as reported over the weekend in the N&O.

Update: Bowles says that former UNC-Charlotte Chancellor Jim Woodward will serve as interim chancellor. 

Former N.C. State University Provost Larry Nielsen's severance package was increased last month.

Records show that Chancellor Jim Oblinger cut a deal to boost Nielsen's severance the day before Nielsen resigned.

The terms show he will receive more than was previously disclosed — $310,255 in extra pay above his faculty salary.

The documents directly contradict public comments that Oblinger made after Nielsen left as chief academic officer at the state's largest university. The university released the information late Sunday after days of requests from the N&O.

They also show that Oblinger changed the severance in apparent violation of university rules. (N&O) 

N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger says he is "embarrassed" that he has no recollection of a conversation with trustee McQueen Campbell prior to the hiring of first lady Mary Easley in 2005.

For good reason.

Some might recall that an often-noted trait of N.C. State's 13th chancellor has been his steel-trap memory, Andy Curliss reports.

It was highlighted in a lengthy profile of Oblinger in The News & Observer at the time he took the chancellorship in early 2005, noting that he devoured details and that his ability to remember names and faces was "uncanny."

The profile said that he was the kid who memorized which recording belonged to what record label. He was the dad who remembered the odometer reading on his car, much to his sons' dismay because they couldn't drive off and return without his knowing it.

"He will know whether there were crumbs left on the kitchen counter when he walks out in the morning," his wife said at the time. "If there are different crumbs in that spot when he returns, he notices that, too."

Faculty members have also recalled that Oblinger could pick up a conversation weeks or even months after it started, as if there was no gap in time.

But on Thursday, in addressing questions about Campbell and the first lady's hiring, Oblinger said his memory is now faulty.

"You've got to realize that I'm getting older," said Oblinger, who is 63. "This was years ago. I find that I'm forgetting things."

The chancellors of UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University are in Atlanta, but university officials say it's not just for the basketball.

Along with attending the Atlantic Coast Conference men's tournament, UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp met with the CEO of a bank, gave a speech at an alumni reception and schmoozed with university donors.

N.C. State Chancellor Jim Oblinger has a similarly busy schedule.

Stephanie Parker, a spokeswoman for Oblinger, said many college events are scheduled around the basketball tournament, which draws college boosters from around the country and substantial media attention.

The heads of the ACC schools and their athletic directors also hold a three-hour annual meeting, alternating between the men's and women's basketball tournaments.

Thorp flew to Atlanta on Wednesday on a state jet usually used by the governor and other top state officials. Also on the flight were his wife, teenage son, pre-teen daughter and three employees who work in fundraising and university relations.

More after the jump.

   Comments (2)

President Bush has appointed N.C. State University Chancellor Jim Oblinger to serve on the board of the national Fulbright scholarship program.

Oblinger will serve the remainder of a term that ends Sept. 22 of this year. He was one of several academics appointed Friday by Bush to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, Barb Barrett reports.

The board oversees the prestigious international Fulbright program.