PLAINFIELD - Goddard College becomes a self-governing community this week. With faculty, nonteaching staff, and students to be given a one-man one vote voice in campus policymaking.

The new departure in college administration was unveiled this month by Goddard's new president, Gerald Witherspoon, after consultation with the three major groups involved.

"My idea came from talks with faculty and students here and from my sitting on the outside and watching what was happening in Berkeley and Columbia. I felt that this was not the way to go, in fact it was a direction for disaster," Witherspoon said over a sandwich Monday.

"I believe that if people are going to act responsibly, they must have had the chance to exercise responsibility in their lives and institutions. They must learn what responsibility means and bring their own insights and thoughts to problems."

The new self government will operate through the community as a whole, with council meetings open to all who wish to attend. If consensus cannot be reached, position papers will be written and the issue resolved by college-wide referendum. However, the trustees, could if they they wished, overrule a decision.

Witherspoon regards the plan "a fulfillment of a promise, in a sense. It began when students were given a voice in the search for a new president." The college's first president, Dr. Royce Pitken, retired last summer. Goddard was founded in 1939 and now has 600 students, 70 faculty, 100 nonteaching staff and 300 in the adult degree program.

As to the problem inherent in having 1,000 persons participate in setting college policy, Witherspoon acknowledges they could be serious.

"The process will be cumbersome unless people are committed to making it work. Further, if groups begin to act as blocs, it could polarize the college community and make a unified situation impossible."

Campus reaction to the announcement Monday varied from cynicism, to indifference to enthusiasm.

"I think it is a good idea, and I respect him for giving us the responsibility to try and govern ourselves, said fourth year student David Vivian of Boston.

"What I see coming, unfortunately, is a lot of heated discussion and maybe even violence, instead of rational talk."

Another Boston student, Fred Behr, said, "I'll believe it works when I see it. The community never has gotten together, but I agree that the idea is a good one."

A second year student from Woodstock, Dina Albright said, "unless it affects me directly, I could care less. Personally, I don't think the students here will take the responsibilty. They never have before." Then she added doubtfully, "Maybe the new students will..."

While discussion of the new plan occupies most conversation another problem has already manifested itself -- an angry confrontation between several black and white students.

The administration appears anxious to softpedal the incident, and details are unclear. Black enrollment is about 50 students -- more than three times larger than the previous number.

Witherspoon explained that the college hopes to recruit more black students, but the problem is one of money for tuition and living expenses. Morover, there are several black persons on the admission staff who visit ghetto areas to recruit prospective students.

There is also an Afro-American Society, and the campus bookstore is stocked with paperbacks on black studies. Further, former Brattleboro newspaper columnist Kenneth Wibecan is an advisor.

As at most campuses, marijuana is used, but antiwar sentiment seems below the surface. Perhaps this is true because antiwar activists have not had a chance to become organized. Two new academic programs have also elicited widespread interest. They are architecture and an action qroup experiment.

Some 30 first-year students and five faculty members are participating in the autonomous action group, which is expected to become the nucleus for a third campus. In essence the group decides what it wishes to study -- politics or ecology, for example -- and then takes on a project. They are expected to learn the skills necessary to solve the problem posed by the project.

An architectural program is also being offered, in an effort to give students the experience of seeing something they designed and constructed. The first project will be a design studio, and the students will also experiment with new building materials. David Sellers, architect for Prickly Mountain, is one of those associated with the project.