The Issue: The hiring and subsequent pay raise given to Mary Easley has cast an aura of impropriety over the University.
Our Opinion: Mary Easley needs to resign immediately for the sake of the University.
The Solution: The resignation of Mary Easley would help to alleviate the negative attention the University has received over the last few weeks.
Suspicions have swirled around the top administrators at the University since the News and Observer published an article last week indicating impropriety in the hiring and subsequent pay raise given to Mary Easley in 2007.
Since the article, Provost Larry Nielsen and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, McQueen Campbell, have resigned following inquiries into their roles in her hiring.
The merits of Easley’s 88-percent pay raise to direct a, as of yet unopened, Pre-Law Center is questionable to begin with.
But for her to now turn mute in the face of serious condemnation is unacceptable. Her lack of accessibility to the media, despite coming to her office Monday for business as usual, is certainly damning.
Provost Nielsen, a champion for students and faculty alike, resigned because it was in the best interest of the University. For Easley to ignore this fact and continue coming to work while the chancellor and president Bowles were calling for her resignation is a slap in the face.
Unfortunately for this student body, the one person who needs to hand in her resignation letter has not.
Whether guilty by the law or not, Mary Easley’s actions have disgraced the University and cast a shadow of doubt over its top officials.
Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC System, and Chancellor James Oblinger have already asked for Easley’s resignation.
To neglect these requests amongst the whirlwind of bad publicity this inquiry has brought shows a blatant lack of concern for N.C. State.
Putting her personal interests over that of the University shows a serious lack of concern for the students she is supposed to be serving. For the sake of the students and the University she needs to respond to the calls for her resignation.
Oblinger has not yet been accused of any wrong doing, but these accusations of impropriety and political pay-offs are under his supervision.
The excuse of not knowing what is going on is unacceptable as chancellor of a university. When the chancellor does not know about serious misconduct that embarrasses the University, he needs to find out.
This should serve as a serious wake-up call to Oblinger and our top administrators to be proactive and not reactive.
Calling for Mary Easley’s resignation was the right step to take. The next step is for Easley to put the University above herself and resign.
