10/27/1980, Burlington Free Press
GODDARD HEAD QUITS OVER SALARY DONATION
By JOHN REILLY
The college's director of financial aid, Janet Miller-Hoffman, also
resigned, in protest of a trustee resolution to inform applicants for
admission that the college is in bad financial shape. Ms. Hoffman said
she feared the college might use the warning later as a legal defense
against paying refunds if the institution folds.
The trustees appointed a search committee for a new president and named
Victor Loefolth-Elhy, dean of the graduate program, as acting president.
Hall recommended to the trustees the college undertake a two-month fund-raising
effort to raise $150,000 to meet its cash-flow needs. When the board rejected
that plan and accepted instead an offer by faculty and staff to work the next
three weeks without pay, Hall submitted his resignation.
"I just didn't feel under the circumstance I could continue," he said.
"I just didn't see how it (the salary donation to the college) was going to
work, but the board thought otherwise, so they are going on."
The Plainfield college reportedly has had financial difficulties in its
42 years. It has virtually no endowment, operating almost entirely on tuition
and fees.
Trustee Chairman Richard Sontag said the salary gift gave the college "as good
a cash flow as its had in a year and a half," and he was confident Goddard would
stay solvent at least until the end of the academic year.
"What occured was the (college) community made a sacrifice, and it's a continuing
one, which John (Hall) simply felt they should not be asked to make. But they
volunteered, and simply convinced the board at the end they are absolutely convinced
they can keep Goddard going. The board voted unanimously to permit the gift to
be accepted."
Goddard raised $250,000 in its alumni drive last year, and Sontag said the board
felt the possibility of raising $150,000 in two months was remote.
With the help of a federal Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education
grant, the college has established a task force which will recommend a major
financial reorganization early next year.
Sontag said the college has not changed its posture on refunds, but "we wish every
student to know Goddard has financial problems. We want everybody who registers at the college to know what the opportunities are and what the disappointments could
be."
Ms. Hoffman, said, "I cannot support that position by the college. I strongly disapprove of any statement by which students could be waived their rights."
She referred to a statement that Goddard acknowledged its financial difficulties and
wanted students to know they might not receive all the services for which they
had paid.
Ms. Hoffman also disagreed with the decision to make salary donations.
"I don't feel (faculty and staff) can take it any more. The situation is a bit
exploitative. The fear of unemployment causes them to suffer unduly, almost to the
point where the institution is using that (fear)", she said.
The college has 1,100 students in its various programs. A session of the Adult Degree
Program, which consists largely of independent work done off campus, begins
today.
Sontag said students and faculty had raised almost $18,000 over the weekend to try and stave off the financial crisis.
Ms. Hoffman predicted the latest problems would scare off prospective applicants
and the college would fold by year's end, unable to make it on faculty donations.
Sontag disagreed.
"This method of operation has existed for 42 years now," he said. "The resiliency
of this community is unbelievable."
Free Press Staff Writer
Goddard College President John Hall resigned Sunday in a dispute with
trustees over acceptance of a three-week salary donation from faculty
and staff to keep the financially beleagured institution alive.
