12/12/1977, Burlington Free Press
MORALE SHAKEN BY CHANGES AT GODDARD
By GREG HOOKER
PLAINFIELD -- Ten months after more than 30 faculty and administrative
personnel were released in the effort to wipe out a $450,000 deficit
and balance the budget, remaining members of the Goddard community may
agree on two points regarding the school's financial retrenchment:
It happened. And it was no fun.
That is the extent of universal accord on the issue.
While most believe that retrenchment had to happen sooner of later,
there are skeptics. And in a number of corners, there are nagging doubts
about both the administrative methods employed to see Goddard through
its most recent financial crunch and the effects those methods will have
on the entire fabric of a Goddard education.
One of those most outspoken is Robert Belenky, former dean of the graduate
program and current head of its Human Studies Center.
It was Belenky's recent announcement of his impending resignation from the
college that briefly ressurected the shadow of retrenchment, something most
people on campus prefer to consider a fait accompli. Calling the $1,100
allocated to his program a "pittance", Belenky complained that there had been no
substantial communication on the matter between the administration and himself.
Not true, said President John Hall, who along with Graduate Studies Dean
Les Humphreys has only good things to say about Belenky the teacher.
Calling him "one of the most exciting and creative people on campus,"
Humphreys said, "Bob has done things for this program that no one else could."
Humphreys declined to comment on the money budgeted to Belenky's program,
however, other than to say that a finance committee has made recommendations
on a review of the matter and those recommendations are still being
considered.
Belenky himself is more concerned with what he calls an increasing conservatism
at the school. "Some programs have a clear, rigid structure, a change from
the original philosophy at Goddard," he said, adding, "I think there's a
feeling among some faculty that the school is running the danger of becoming
fixated on procedures as opposed to people."
One procedure that the trustees directed Hall to focus on is the spending of
Goddard's money. And when the smoke cleared in March, it was the resident
undergraduate program (RUP) that had felt the knife of retrenchment most.
For while Humphreys and Summer Programs Dean Francis Voitt could anticipate
sustained or increased enrollments, RUP Dean James Nolfi was facing significant
declines.
Nolfi blames his enrollment decline partly on a "deterioration in admission
activities" over the past several years, something he said is being corrected
and will show positive results in a couple of years.
The faculty cuts, he added, "were a tremendous blow, though I think we've
recovered extraordinarily well. Because of the retrenchment, the faculty
seems to talk and work with each other more."
That improved faculty cohesiveness was one of the silver linings in the
retrenchment cloud anticipated last winter by RUP student Linda Koch.
"The faculty and students have pulled together," the junior theater
arts student said. But, she conceded, there have been problems. "The
remaining faculty are very overworked and some of the students who lost their
teachers now have only one instructor in their major field of study."
Winona Ferguson, a senior psychology student, said some programs, such
as woodworking and architecture, were wiped out. And, said J.T. Osgood,
a student who also sits on the Board of Trustees: "The normal attrition
rate of RUP students is 20 percent. This year it was 38.7 percent, mostly
on account of retrenchment."
Several RUP faculty members echo the student views, one of the most vocal
being Carla Thomas, 10 years a philosophy professor at the school and current
president of Goddard local 3248 of the American Federation of Teachers.
"The faculty's gone," she said, "so the students don't see why they should
be here."
Ms. Thomas is even more critical of the retrenchment processes and the direction
in which the undergraduate is headed. "But we wer never clearly filled in on
what the (financial) situation was," she said, emphasizing that "everything
was wrong with it (retrenchment)."
"Everything" includes a seven-count grievance filed in March by the union against
the college. A decision, said Ms. Thomas, whose local represents full-time RUP
reachers and "core" faculty in the adult degree program is due from an arbitrator
Dec. 21. Among the bones of contention, according to Ms. Thomas, is that the faculty
was not "consulted" prior to retrenchment as called for in their contract.
"We are increasingly having our academic prerogatives intruded upon and we can't
have this."
Others see more promise of the future. Though RUP faculty members Janet Kotler,
Jerry Conti and Ned Hitchcock agree that retrenchment has meant a greatly increased
work load for them, there is the feeling that faculty have pulled together. "Goddard
teachers are fast on their feet and can shift," said Ms. Kotler.
"There's been a lot of reshuffling after retrenchment," said Hitchcock, "and
what we're doing now is a painful synthesis. If we can't synthesize and articulate
the thought of the past and present, this will still be a very exciting
place."
Indeed, feelings about past, present and future at Goddard are a mixture of
regret and optimism. While student Osgood said there was very little conferral with
faculty or students on which faculty should not have had their contracts renewed,
a fact that he said "goes against the grain and philosophy of Goddard," he also
said the dominant feeling on campus is to "put it in the past and make the best
of things."
"It seems logical that cutting half your faculty isn't a good thing," added
sophomore Larry Ferlazzo of Milwaukee, "but at the same time it has made me more
resourceful, to discover the college's other resources. We could bitch and
bitch, but we still have so much here - a great degree of democracy, great
faculty and good programs."
"Radical surgery is no fun for anyone," concluded Hitchcock, who may also
speak for everyone at Goddard on at least one more point of universal agreement.
"We've (got) to make it," he said, "and I think we will."
Special to the Free Press
Goddard College was saved from financial oblivion, but not
without sacrifices that might have affected more than just the budget of the
school. Free Press Correpspondent Greg Hooker examines the changes
in this second of two stories
