Goddard Students Demand Say in Pitkin's Successor - Burlington Free Press, 3/10/1969

3/10/1969, Burlington Free Press

GODDARD STUDENTS DEMAND SAY IN PITKIN'S SUCCESSOR

PLAINFIELD -- The Goddard College faculty tonight will consider a list of student demands for more participation in the selection of a president to replace founding chief, Dr. Royce S. Pitkin.

A growing student-teacher dissatisfaction with official secrecy on the part of the nominating committee helped bring together an estimated 300 students and about 15 teachers and administrators Friday night to protest the impending appointment of a Seattle, Wash., film company executive who hadn't been presented to students.

The student-faculty group voted to ask the college Board of Trustees to delay consideration scheduled for a trustees meeting Wednesday night in New York City.

Also sought, with near unanimity, are changes in the presidential selection process to:

Replace the present three-teacher, three-trustee, three-student nominating committee with two students and teachers from each campus;
End official secrecy of candidates;
Guarantee prospective nominees will be presented to students and teachers during the resident study terms;
Seek approval of a majority of students and teachers prior to confirmation of a nominee chosen by the trustees, with appointment of an interim school leader if a successor to Pitkin isn't chosen before he steps down in June.

The nominating committee has been seeking candidates for the post for more than a year, but a sense of urgency in the appointment has recently been felt by the trustees.

The committee decided not to report to students the results of interviews which narrowed the field down to three men - former Tax Commissioner Gerald Witherspoon, Stuart Miller, who has been employed at the Esylon Institute, and Roger Hagan, general manager of a west coast motion picture concern, King Screen Productions Inc.

In the most recent meeting of the committee the trustees and teachers stated they preferred Hagan and the three student representatives voted for nomination of Miller.

Hagan's name was to be placed in nomination during the trustees' meeting Wednesday but word of the secret choice and the concern expressed here has resulted in statements by several responsible sources that the presidency is still quite open.