RALEIGH
Mary Easley, North Carolina's former first lady, said goodbye yesterday to the state's largest public university, which gave her a $170,000-a-year contract until it became clear that her husband was involved in her hiring.
Mary Easley issued a statement through her lawyer urging everyone affiliated with N.C. State University "to now focus on the best welfare of the students."
Her contract to run a school speaker's series and lead a public- safety center was canceled Monday, hours after the school released e-mails from 2005 indicating that former Gov. Mike Easley played a role in the university's decision to create the position.
"It has been one of the great privileges of my life to work with the brilliant and creative people at N.C. State," Mary Easley's statement said. "I will continue to fully support this outstanding institution."
Her statement did not mention her firing or whether she would try to enforce or negotiate a payout of her terminated contract. Her attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Mary Easley had previously said that she didn't plan to resign, despite requests to do so from former Chancellor James Oblinger, UNC system President Erskine Bowles and the new chairman of the school's board of trustees, Bob Jordan.
Oblinger resigned Monday, becoming the third high university official to resign amid scrutiny over Mary Easley's hiring.
The messages between Oblinger; the former chairman of the school's board of trustees, who resigned in May; and the governor's senior adviser for fiscal affairs had previously been requested by federal investigators looking into Mary Easley's hiring.
Probes involving the Easleys also include federal subpoenas requesting information about trips taken by the Easley family during Mike Easley's two terms in office and about Mary Easley's job.
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