10/28/1980, Burlington Free Press

THIRD GODDARD ADMINISTRATOR RESIGNS

By JOHN REILLY
Free Press Staff Writer

A third Goddard College administrator resigned Monday in the wake of the institution's latest financial woes, while stundents registering for a new session of the Adult Degree Program shrugged off warnings they may not be able to complete their studies.

Heather Wishik, dean of the Adult Degree Program, refused to discuss the reasons for her resignation.

John Hall, president of the Plainfield college, resigned Sunday after trustees voted to accept a three-week salary donation from faculty and staff to keep the institution afloat. Hall felt "unable to lead the college in the current financial crisis," said his successor, acting President Victor Loefflath-Ehly.

The financial aid director, Janet Miller Hoffman, also decided Sunday to resign.

Loefflath-Ehly said the trustees' hopes of keeping Goddard alive were buoyed by a preliminary report from a federally funded task force which will make recommendations in early December for major changes in the curriculum.

Among the preliminary recommendations, the acting president said, are "accessibility of all college faculty to stundents enrolled in all programs, creation of an intensive cross-program learning environment to enhance advanced study and independent study."

The trustees considered three factors to be key to their decision not to close the institution, said Loefflath-Ely:

1. The curriculum reorganization, which they hope will alleviate financial pressure.
2. A new fund-raising effort. The college traditionally has run almost exclusively on tuition and fees and has virtually no endowment.
3. A national decline in institutions such as Goddard that emphasize independent study and student-designed courses.

"Given the reduced number of genuinely alternative institutions of higher learning in the U.S., we think it is of critical importance that Goddard continue to offer innovative programs for non-traditional constituencies, Loefflath-Ehly quoted the trustees.

The acting president said 70 new Adult Degree Program enrollees had been expected and 68 enrolled Monday.

Students were given a notice of the college's financial condition and warned that Goddard could not guarantee all the services for which they were paying. Most students were not concerned.

"I've never known the college not to be on the edge of financial collapse. It's just part of life here," said one enrollee.

"They aren't telling anyone anything they didn't know," said another.

Goddard has about 1,000 students.

Loefflath-Ehly said he thought Ms. Wishik quit because she "felt the demands on the instiution, and therefore the people who run the institution, had gotten too great. It was too difficult to do sound educational work."