GODDARD CHIEF THREATENS TO RESIGN
MONTPELIER -- Goddard College President Jack Lindquist said Monday he will resign next year from his $55,000a-year post unless the board of trustees agrees to adjust the school's mission and management.
Lindquist, 48, said he has notified the 20 board members of his concerns and will discuss the situation with members at their annual meeting June 3-4.
Among the changes he is calling for are efforts to make the school more affordable and broaden its appeal to a greater contingent of students. He said the board also should continue its program to increase salaries and benefits for staff, as well as reducing the workloads and improving teaching materials.
"I could be very excited about taking on some of these issues here," said Lindquist, who has served as Goddard's president since 1981. "But it may be appropriate for me to move on and have someone else move in."
He added that he has not developed his proposals, but will present a more complete package of recommendations to the board next month.
Board member Beth Warrell said she supports the changes Lindquist has recommended and hopes he remains.
"We're a wonderful college for the very bright, independent learner, especially if your interest is in a creative field," she said, adding that the school is not as well prepared to help students who are less independent or lacking goals.
"We're also a fairly liberal school in terms of politics, and I'm sure at times we do put people off," she said. "Jack certainly saved the school. Jack's plan of where we should go is a good one. I would hope he would stay and implement that plan."
Goddard, accredited in 1959 as an experimental college, has faced turbulent times, recovering only recently from a $3.2 million debt racked up during the 1970's and brought under control through the sale of programs, buildings and land. The school has also rebounded from declining enrollment, and regained its accreditation -- lost in 1980 -- by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
"Goddard was in a time of survival and renewal, a comeback stage for most of the years of the 1980s after nearly closing in the '70s," he said. "Now we're in much better shape in terms of enrollment, accreditation and debt.
Lindquist said recently he was planning to either quit or retire. He said Monday that he has modified that position and will consider staying on at the school if the board agrees to his proposals.
"I felt kind of beat up a couple of weeks ago," he said, noting that the school was involved at the time in a racial discrimination suit which it subsequently lost.
He added that a small group of faculty has been lobbying for his dismissal, and that college presidents face seemingly constant criticism for schools' problems.
"When you are upset at the institution you look to the person in charge who must have made the terrible thing happen," Lindguist said. "Even at Goddard, which is very keen on the participatory way of doing things, the tendency is to blame the person with the fanciest title and salary."
Lindquist has served as academic dean of the school before becoming its president. He has a doctorate in higher education from the University of Michigan and was former director of the Institute for Academic Improvement for Memphis State University.
Goddard's president since 1981
