Mission and Purposes

Goddard College has in place a new mission statement, passed at the September, 1992 meeting of the Board of Trustees. This mission statement was developed after extensive discussion with members of the Goddard community and shares widespread support. In addition to the mission statement, the College developed an accompanying statement of philosophical principles, expanding the mission by placing Goddard in the context of the world, outlining an educational plan, and providing academic programs that support it.

The community, in adopting the mission statement, continues to embrace the philosophy that Goddard is an experimental and experimenting institution. As such, it anticipates that the mission statement will become a living document subject to ongoing evaluation and review. The mission statement needs now to be placed in all college publications. Individual units of the College should develop objectives in concert with the mission and philosophical statement.

Organization and Governance

Goddard College describes itself as an experimenting institution. Governance is an area that seems to change and evolve continually.

The Board of Trustees carries the ultimate responsibility for the health, welfare and operation of the College. This group has begun to put effort into its own development. Relationships and communication channels between the Board and the community have been clarified. The College, in the past, experienced inappropriate Board intervention in the day-to-day operation of the College [emphasis mine]. Steps have been taken by the Board and the community to resolve this issue and avoid internal conflicts. The Board recently adopted a Code of Expectations and Responsibilities to guide the conduct of its membership as well as to articulate responsibilities of trusteeship. Great care should be taken to monitor and insure an appropriate Board of Trustee role in institutional operations. Trustees are now annually setting Board goals and evaluating them together. They are currently working with the community on a procedure to evaluate the President.

Academic governance, as described in the self-study, places responsibility for educational programs and curriculum in the hands of the faculty. Faculty participate in the budget development process as it relates to academic issues, in particular, the assignment and allocation of faculty to programs.

Interviews with the committee chairs indicate, to a person, that the organization of committees function well within their assigned area's of responsibility and include broad representation of faculty, students and staff. In addition, working groups and ad hoc committees have been created to facilitate the operation of the institution in such areas as enrollment management, publications, and registrar issues.

Goddard College also has, unique to its own community, a series of open community meetings where issues can be discussed. This is consistent with Goddard's history, mission and philosophy.

The College continues to make efforts to integrate non-residency programs in the governance structure of the Coliege. Faculty working in long- and short-term residency programs are involved in activities designed to forge bonds between those who teach in different areas and programs. The College faces a challenge in determining the best ways to involve short-term residency students into governance in a meaningful way.

Despite all of its efforts and broad participation, the College faces several significant issues regarding governance. Since the last comprehensive evaluation in 1985, the College community has designed, adopted and rejected three governance systems. It is now embarking on the design of a fourth. Debate about governance has been almost continuous for the last seven years. The team feels that many problems stem from instabilities growing out of a governance system that does not clearly define the decisionmaking authority of individual administrators, committees and bodies at the College. This troublesome situation has been exacerbated by a high turnover in administrators and the critical nature of Goddard's finances which required difficult decisions.

Attention needs to be paid, expeditiously, to the establishment of a governance structure that is appropriate to Goddard's history and tradition and yet allows for clear and effective communication and decisionmaking by appropriate bodies and/or individuals. The visiting team believes Goddard is weakened by continuing conflicts over recognized authority and decisionmaking roles. Goddard needs to develop a governance system that has credibility with all its constituencies and is consistent with its mission, philosophy and values. This is no small task. Determining lines of authority and legitimate roles and responsibilities within the organizational structure of the institution will require patience and wisdom....

Significant Concerns

Governance issues at Goddard need to be resolved. A clearly articulated and comprehensive governance system with appropriate roles for and recognition of authority by the Board, President, faculty, and students in decisionmaking must be articulated consistent with Goddard's mission and philosophy.