GODDARD PRESIDENT GIVEN FIVE-YEAR PACT
PLAINFIELD -- The board of trustees at Goddard College has
agreed to a five-year contract with President Barbara
Mossberg in hopes of bringing stability to the campus,
which has been plagued by high turnover at the top.
Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, the board voted 16-0
with two abstentions to approve the contract with Mossberg,
who took over the presidency in August 1997. Prior to her
arrival, the college saw five presidents come and go over
a five-year period. The chair of the trustees, Paul Blanc,
noted that if Mossberg completes the term of the contract,
she would be the longest-serving president since the
college's founder, Royce Pitkin, who held the post from
1938 to 1968.
"This contract represents significant progress for the
college in terms of institutional stability," Blanc said
in a statement following the vote.
"Continuity is vital to the survival and prosperity of
the college," he said. "I believe that now everyone can
and will pull together on behalf of Goddard."
The vote came four months after faculty and students at
the college presented the board with a motion of
no confidence in the president.
The union called for both Mossberg and Blanc to step down
from their posts after the board proposed excluding faculty
members and students from decisions about the curriculum.
Earlier this month, however, the college announced that
it had its most successful six-moth fund-raising effort
in the past 30 years, raising more than $500,000 during
the second half of 1999.
Mossberg was not available for comment Monday, but in a
statement released by the college, she said she appreciated
"the strong vote of confidence" shown by the board in
granting her a five-year contract.
