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RALEIGH (AP) — The interim chancellor of N.C. State has eliminated the lucrative resignation package given to the former campus provost, saying in a letter released Tuesday that the deal was "invalid."

Interim chancellor Jim Woodward said in the letter that former Chancellor James Oblinger did not have the authority to "fundamentally alter" the 2005 employment agreement of former provost Larry Nielsen. Woodward said Oblinger should have sought the approval of the board of trustees.

"This approval was not given nor was it sought," Woodward wrote.

Woodward said similar salary packages had been common at the university for employees who had been at senior levels for at least five years. Nielsen had not been there that long, but Woodward portrayed the resignation package as nothing more than an error made by a stressed senior staff.

"It was sloppy work," Woodward said in an interview. "I do not think it was an intentional effort to bypass the normal procedures."

He said it would have been consistent with policy for Nielsen to receive the larger pay package if he had been there for five years. And he said he supports keeping that policy to ensure that top leaders remain with the university.

Nielsen will continue receiving his provost salary, about $300,000 annually, for six months as he transitions to a job at the College of Natural Resources, where he will earn $157,000, Woodward said in the letter dated Thursday. Those were the terms of the pay package Nielsen signed when he began the job.

Oblinger had changed the terms of the salary agreement the day before Nielsen resigned so that Nielsen's salary would be elevated into 2012, at first with full provost salary through the end of 2009, then about $250,000 annually through June 2011, then about $200,000 annually through June 2012. After that, Nielsen would return to his normal salary, according to the agreement signed May 13.

Nielsen did not immediately return a message left at his office, but Oblinger's attorney defended the former chancellor.

"It was always his intention that the document reflecting the step-down from provost would reflect the original offer," said attorney Press Millen. "To the extent that it didn't, then it was not his intention and it is absolutely correct for N.C. State to correct it so that the two correspond."

Both Nielsen and Oblinger resigned amid questions over their roles in the hiring of former first lady Mary Easley.

The new chairman of the N.C. State board of trustees, Bob Jordan, had asked the chancellor to examine Nielsen's salary agreement to determine if it complied with university rules.