The head of N.C. State's alumni association is out of a job.

NCSU Chancellor James Woodward has sacked Lennie Barton, who has led the association since 2003.

NCSU is the state's largest university, with more than 32,000 students. But it's alumni membership hasn't grow over the last few years, hovering around 22,000 paying members.

 By contrast, the UNC Chapel Hill alumni association, which is much older, boasts about 70,000 members.

But was there another reason for Barton's firing?

Jay Price reports.

From the weekend: a look at how budget cuts at UNC system campuses are hitting the classroom.

It all depends on who you talk to. Some professors, advisors and the like are really struggling to cut costs. And some students, like Jarmir Smith, who you'll meet in this story, are feeling it, too. 

But others, like the freshmen in Don Raleigh's freshman seminar at UNC Chapel Hill, say they don't see the problem. Of course, they just got to college and have little basis for comparison.

It should be noted: while UNC-CH raised its cap on freshman seminar enrollment to 24 students, not all seminars have that many students this fall. And, the university asked professors whether they'd mind the higher enrollment before expanding it from 20; those who didn't like the idea of larger seminars didn't have to host them. 

Since this story focused on public universities, we didn't cover the effects of the economy on private colleges. But I talked to some folks at Duke about this too last week.

There, officials say they're able to avoid academic cuts by paring costs in other areas. New construction has been halted, for example, and plans across campus to replace computers and other office equipment are being delayed, said Michael Schoenfeld, a Duke spokesman.

And housekeepers will no longer clean residence halls on Saturdays.

"We are doing things at the margins that will be noticeable to students," Schoenfeld said.

For years, top brass across the UNC system have received a tidy perk at the time of their retirement - a year's pay at their full salary.

Under a UNC system policy formalized several years ago, the heads of public university campuses and an array of other administrators have received this pay - all public money - with very few strings attached. And in some cases, campuses violated policy and gave it to people who shouldn't have received it.

In the News & Observer today, we explore this issue, which has tapped the North Carolina taxpayer for about $8 million over the last five years.

For a brief summary of many of the high-profile folks who benefitted from this policy - including former UNC system President Molly Broad and others - click here.

And for a look at what one former university leader - former UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser - did after stepping away from the job - check out this story.

N.C. State's marching band got a reprieve Friday and will head to Ireland after all.

The planned trip was nixed recently in light of budget cuts - even though no state money was to be used.

That didn't sit well with interim Chancellor James Woodward, who subsequently decided to send to band to perform in a St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin after all.

Cheers!

Chancellor James Oblinger has resigned at N.C. State.

James Woodward, former chancellor at UNC Charlotte, will serve in the interim.

Details here.