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Local News Story
NC State University Official Not Only NMSU Candidate Involved In Scandal
Albuquerque, N.M., 10.29.2009
AP
Two of five finalists who hope to become New Mexico State University's next president resigned from universities in Illinois and North Carolina in the wake of separate scandals.
Former University of Illinois Chancellor Richard Herman resigned that post last week after concerns over special attention the school paid to politically connected applicants, some of whom were accepted over more qualified students.
Former North Carolina State University Chancellor James Oblinger stepped down June 8 in the wake of a federal investigation into the hiring of former North Carolina first lady Mary Easley at the university.
The director of NMSU's search advisory committee, Del Archuleta, says committee members were aware of the circumstances of the two candidates' resignations.
``This is of no surprise to us,'' Archuleta said. ``We're aware of it.''
Herman played a key role in pushing for the admission of underqualified, but politically connected students, to the university's law school, and he agreed to provide scholarship money to them, according to e-mails released by the university.
Herman has apologized for his role in the scandal. He has said he didn't believe he had the power to end a system of influence that predated him and was ingrained in Illinois' political culture.
Herman said in an telephone interview Wednesday that he recruited excellent faculty members, promoted diversity on campus, brought multi-million-dollar projects to the university, was a successful fundraiser and boosted the university's international position by opening a center in Singapore.
About the admissions scandal, Herman said: ``There are some lessons learned from what took place here, but my overall record is one of substantive change and improvement.''
Oblinger said in the hiring of Easley, which occurred at the start of his tenure as chancellor, he forwarded the matter to the provost as he did with the hundreds of other such inquiries.
``The hiring of Mary Easley was not done by James Oblinger,'' he said.
Oblinger said he stepped down after others in his administration resigned and after Easley ``had become a greater story than the great work that the university was doing. I did what I needed to do to not overshadow the great work of North Carolina State University.''
Oblinger said his accomplishments included overseeing a $1.3 billion capital campaign and $1 billion worth of construction on campus, growth in enrollment and programs to help poor students graduate school with very little debt.
New Mexico State's previous president, Michael Martin, resigned to become chancellor of Louisiana State University.
Archuleta said a national search consultant, Greenwood/Asher Associates, Inc., in Miramar Beach, Fla., provided committee members with candidates' backgrounds, including the resignations from the beginning of the search in May.
``We would rather that that was not the case,'' he said. ``We did a lot of due diligence to check it all out and we were satisfied with what we found.''
Archuleta said committee members checked the candidates references and called their counterparts at the candidates' universities as part of the search process. He said they considered the candidates' careers and decades of performance, as well as their explanations of the resignations.
``No situation like this ever, ever is a singular event. There are a lot of people that get involved in these things,'' he said.
Archuleta said the interviews ``made us feel very good about the character of both individuals.''
The other candidates include: Barbara Couture, a senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Michael Ortiz, president of California State Polytechnic University in Pomona; and Lisa Rossbacher, the president of Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga.
The Board of Regents will meet Nov. 19 to choose NMSU's next president.
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