N.C. Central University recently closed down a branch campus that it operated for four years at a suburban Atlanta megachurch after it ran afoul of an accrediting agency.

The church pastor is Eddie Long, a 1976 NCCU graduate and current trustee. The N&O wrote about the travails of the branch campus Sunday, and since then, information has trickled out detailing the origins of the program and its repercussions. Here's what key players have said:

JAMES AMMONS, current president of Florida A & M University, was NCCU's chancellor in 2004 when the program was created. He says he doesn't remember the specific details but swears that Long had nothing to do with getting the program approved. He said he thought the program had been properly approved at all levels, even though NCCU trustees and the UNC system Board of Governors -- two bodies whose meetings Ammons regularly attended -- were never briefed on the program and never voted on it.

"There was no indication to me that it hadn't gone through all the steps," he said. "In the end, it's the head of the university. As such, I accept full responsibility."

EDDIE LONG, the alumnus and church pastor whose New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., was the site of the satellite campus, said his church provides a number of educational services for its members. He said this week he's optimistic that the program can be resurrected.

"We are confident that the accreditation issues will be resolved soon and that NCCU can once again offer their distance education program at New Birth," Long said in an e-mailed statement this week.

NCCU officials likely disagree. They've closed the program and are looking for ways to help the students whose educations have been interrupted.

TOM BENBERG, chief of staff, commission on colleges with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which is NCCU's accrediting agency, said degrees earned by students in the New Birth program are not recognized by the agency. NCCU never told the accrediting agency about the program upon creating it in 2004.

"We can only approve the parts we know about," he said. "You can't accredit an entity you don't know anything about."

LUCY REUBEN, NCCU's provost when the New Birth program was created and now a professor at Duke, said in an e-mail that she had nothing to do with approving it. "As Provost, I did not approve the proposed program at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church; thus, I did not move to the process of recommending it to the Board of Trustees. I cannot address actions that occurred after I left the position of Provost in 2004."

ERSKINE BOWLES, president of the UNC system, offered a blistering critique of the unauthorized program.

"I can think of no justifiable reason why the former NCCU leadership would have completely ignored and failed to abide by the appropriate approval process in creating this program. Such action is contrary to all University policy. To say the least, it is very disappointing. We are working closely with Chancellor Nelms and his new leadership team to examine the various academic, legal, and financial questions associated with this Georgia-based program. We will investigate each of them thoroughly and transparently. This circumstance is one of many problems Chancellor Nelms inherited when he arrived last year, and he has managed each of them professionally and effectively."

CHARLIE NELMS, NCCU's current chancellor, is tasked now with cleaning up the mess.

"Since no members of the current executive leadership team were involved in creating the New Birth program, we can only infer that it was established in order to provide quality educational opportunities for participating students," he said.

KAY THOMAS, current chairwoman, NCCU's board of trustees, said she wasn't bothered that the program was located at a Georgia church 400 miles from Durham.

"I see no problem with it," Thomas said. "The idea is to get people certified for jobs, even if they're not North Carolinians."

KOFI AMOETENG, a finance professor who chaired the faculty in 2004, said the program was pushed through at the faculty senate level but did get senate approval.

"It was not an easy approval; it was a close fight," he said of a faculty vote on the program, adding that the relationship NCCU would have with a church gave some faculty members pause. "I was not very happy. We never thought it through. We needed time to study, but it got pushed through."