In falling from grace, former N.C. State Chancellor James Oblinger isn't alone.

It's cold comfort, surely, but a glance around the country shows that university leaders are under fire, getting kicked out, resigning or taking fire all over the place.

A few notable recent examples:

• At Texas A & M University, President Elsa Murano resigned recently following a brutal review of her first year on the job. Murano, that institution's first Hispanic and first female leader, took issue with the review. It ended badly.

But for those who thought the severance deal Oblinger at NCSU attempted to broker with former Provost Larry Nielsen, consider this: Murano will return to the Texas A & M faculty after taking a year off. During that year, she will collect her $425,000 sarly and earn an additional $295,000 under the terms of a deal she struck with the university.

• In Nevada, the head of the public university system is lobbying hard for the resignation of David Ashley, who heads the University of Nevada - Las Vegas. Ashley and the system chief, Jim Rogers, have clashed repeatedly amid disagreements over styles of management, according to this report in the Las Vegas paper.

• In California, a university leader-to-be is taking heat before she even takes office. At the University of California's Davis campus, incoming Chancellor Linda Katehi is facing some hard questions related to her time at the University of Illinois, where she is winding up her term as provost. The admissions system at Illinois has come under scrutiny in recent weeks following news reports that hundreds of less-than-qualified applicants were admitted with help from politicians and other VIPs.