The faculty of Goddard College* vote no confidence in the president of the College, Richard Greene, and call for his resignation.

We believe the president is threatening the very soul of the College and placing its long tradition of progressive education in jeopardy. Furthermore, he is seriously mismanaging the finances and the operations of the College, and employing a "management style" that is demoralizing staff, faculty and students. We have no confidence in his leadership at this point and feel he must resign immediately.

At the same time, we express full confidence in the staff, students and faculty of the College and the basic progressive educational philosophy of the College.

We have not reached this no-confidence decision lightly. This is not a reaction to current fiscal problems, although they are quite serious. Rather, it is based on our extensive exposure to President Greene's values, vision, and actions; the results of his leadership over the past twenty months; and our very deep fears that his actions are threatening the progressive educational traditions of the College.

We have articulated our concerns repeatedly to no avail; we finally have concluded and need to acknowledge that the College and the Board made a serious mistake in hiring Richard Greene, and that he must be required to resign before his damage to the College, its educational program, and its human resources become irreversible.

Of most importance in reaching this decision is the disrespect the president has shown for the traditions and values of the College, the tenets of its basic progressive educational philosophy, the systems and the processes that bring this philosophy to fruition, and the people -- students, staff, and faculty -- who put so much of themselves into this educational process and in its support.

The president seems to have little knowledge or understanding of the educational philosophy of the College; of the essential role of democracy and participation in the educational process and the management of the College; and of the need for all members of the College to be free to express their ideas, concerns, and criticisms in a safe, secure, and trusting environment.

Progressive education, with its emphasis on learning from experience and praxis, the importance of personally created or evolved knowledge, and the humanitarian belief that everyone contributes and counts in the educational process, requires that democracy be a forum for intellectual growth and must be practiced for education of worth to emerge.

In this context, the president's consistent disregard for the democratic process and his inability to reach out to and utilize the collective intelligence of all those within the Goddard community demonstrates that he is unable to understand the dynamics and nuances of progressive education. His actions, without this understanding, appreciation, and support of the essential role of democracy in progressive education, are eroding the foundation of the College.

Richard Greene's presidency has been disastrous from a number of other perspectives as well. After almost two years at the College, under his leadership the College has moved:

• from a position of growing financial strength to a place of fiscal crisis. The College's growing operating surpluses (which reached $461,415 in 1995) and funds for capital improvements (which reached $243,769 in 1995) totally evaporated in 1996, leaving the College with a likely deficit and no capital improvements budgeted. 1997 looks equally weak financially.

• from a time of more successful fundraising (gifts and grants of $191,480 in 1993 and $172,622 in 1994) to current development levels far below previous years (actual fundraising this year through 8 and 1/2 months was only $84,132).

• from growing enrollment to falling enrollment due to increased rates of attrition.

• from an energized and optimistic workforce to a demoralized workforce marked by the resignations of important staff members in protest.

• from a decentralized structure, resulting in an empowered and participative workforce, consistent with the methods and systems of most modern organizations, to a centralized, highly top-down, autocratic structure reminiscent of the 1800s. This style culminated in the recent engagement by the president of an admissions consulting firm without discussion or approval by the College Executive Committee even though the firm may cost up to $100,000 at a time of budget cutbacks and its admissions philosophy and methods are seriously at variance with that of the College.

• from pride in our system of self-governance to worry about its dissolution in the face of the president's disregard of governance policies about authority, consultation, and collaboration in decision-making;

• from active strategic planning and continuous quality improvement to a current absence of any elements of long range planning. In spite of initial attention to visioning and strategic planning, there has been no systematic work on long range planning for the College in the last year.

The president's "management style" has become infamous. His reliance on secrecy, intimidation, manipulation, distortions, misrepresentations, and disrespectful and hurtful treatment of colleagues is well known throughout the College, and is especially well described in the resignation letters of three highly regarded individuals at the College: the past Academic Dean, Dean of Admissions, and Assistant Director of Business.

The president's actions are, quite frankly, becoming an embarrassment to the College, its workforce, its students and alumni/ae, and its supporters throughout the country. In straight cost-benefit analysis, he should leave. He is just not worth the cost, which runs three times the salary of the highest paid senior faculty and close to ten times that of some staff.

We strongly believe that faculty, staff and students know how to plan and operate a progressive College like Goddard far better than the current president, and we have articulated many of our ideas in the forthcoming faculty vision statement, Governance Task Force Report, and the report of the Business and Democracy group study.

We are prepared to work with the Board and the Goddard community to help provide the leadership and support needed to strengthen the management of the College and operate in a fashion truly consistent with its underlying values and philosophy.

*47 faculty voted, of which 42 voted no confidence (23 core faculty and campus associates and 19 off-campus associates); 4 abstained (3 core and campus associate faculty and 1 off-campus associate), and 1 voted confidence (off-campus associate).