5/17/1973, Burlington Free Press

GROUP SEEKS REMOVAL OF GODDARD HEAD

PLAINFIELD (AP)- A committee of students at Goddard College in this Washington County community is circulating petitions calling for the removal of the school's president, Gerald S. Witherspoon.

The Student Committee to Save Goddard said the action was necessary because of a "series of failures, the absence of inspiring educational philosophy and callous treatment and firing of staff and faculty."

The petition said "low enrollment and the financial peril of Goddard are symptomatic of administrative failure."

Neither Witherspoon nor other officials of the college was available for comment.

Witherspoon served as state tax commissioner under former Democratic Gov. Philip Hoff.

One student, Nancy Corley, said in an open letter to the student-body that there was one thought in the minds of people and "that is to rescue Goddard from the crisis situation which has been brought upon us by the current administration."

She contended no one involved with the school could deny the crisis brought on by the shool's financial situation.

"The way things are going Goddard will be dead by next year," she said, giving as examples of the problem the lowest enrollment in the history of the school and cuts in traditional services "while at the same time administration overhead is twice the national norm for a school of equivalent size."