1/13/1973, Burlington Free Press

By Frederick Stetson

PLAINFIELD - Goddard College students marched through the village here about midnight Thursday and staged a peaceful demonstration at the home of the college president.

State police in Montpelier estimated 150 to 200 students participated in the march. Participants said the demonstration was called to express displeasure with a collegiate reorganization proposal recently by the president.

Goddard President Gerald S. Witherspoon was reportedly not at his home when the marchers arrived at his Plainfield residence.

A state police officer from an outpost serving the community accompanied the marchers to assure safe conditions were maintained on highways, a state police spokesman said.

Another report from the campus said the Goddard College fire equipment was called to the scene, but there were no reported incidents of any kind during the demonstrations, according to police and college officials.

Goddard Director of Administration Benjamin Collins said the new reorganization proposal would follow 'classic' lines of collegiate structure, with a new vice president for academic affairs and a new vice president for nonacademic affairs.

Collins said the proposal had been devised by Witherspoon in consultation with program directors and other college officials.

But, he added, faculty did not learn of it until a meeting Wednesday. Many members of the faculty apparently were caught by surprise and they intended to call a meeting today to discuss the reorganization further.

One faculty member said there are reports on campus that the proposal has disturbed Collins, who presumably would be confronted with another layer of administration between himself and the president.

"I think it is a defensible proposal," Collins said when asked for comment Friday. Asked if he would personally defend it, he replied, "As a rational proposal for the organization of educational institutions - yes."

Another report circulating on the campus is that the reorganization has upset Collins to the point where he is considering resigning. Collins would neither confirm nor deny such reports.

"I haven't resigned," he said. But when asked if he might soon change his mind, or if there was any truth to reports that he might resign in the near future, he replied, "I don't know; I wouldn't say there's any truth to it."

Asked if he would complete his two-year contract which expires in August 1974, he answered, "I don't know. I'm a rather whimsical person."

In commenting upon the reorganization proposal further, Collins said its basic intent is to decentralize the functions of the college into autonomous programs.

Each program would be a "self-contained unit with more control of its internal affairs," he said.

According to one faculty member, the proposal shocked many of his associates because they were not expecting it. "They sat there numbed at the meeting," he said.

Witherspoon could not be reached for comment at his office Friday. A secretary said Witherspoon would be unavailable for appointments for the next two weeks, because he was preparing for a trustees meeting Jan. 19 in New York City and additional meetings outside Vermont.

Witherspoon is expected to present his reorganization proposal at the Jan. 19 meeting.