GODDARD PRESIDENT TO RESIGN
PLAINFIELD -- Goddard College President Jack Lindquist will leave his post when his contract expires in February 1991.
"It's time for a new life," Lindquist said Monday. "After what will be 10 years, it really is a good time for a change in my life, and it's a new time for the college, too -- when they're entering a new decade, a new era."
Goddard College President Jack Lindquist will leave his post in February 1991.
Lindquist announced his plans to the school's trustees before their regularly scheduled meeting last weekend. During the meeting, the board formed a presidential search committee to conduct a nationwide search it hopes will be completed by July 1990.
In May, Lindquist told trustees he might resign unless the board agreed to adjust the school's mission and management. He said Tuesday that the college has addressed those issues, and they have nothing to do with his decision to leave. "We're feeling pretty good about that," he said.
"We wish to thank Dr. Lindquist for the very significant achievements of the past nine years. He has taken a near bankrupt college, its accreditation in doubt and its enrollment declining, to a fully accredited, financially stable college with steadily increasing enrollments," board Chairwoman Lois Sontag said.
"I (personally) regret the decision because I think he's fantastic ... but 10 years under the kind of conditions and stress that come from financial woes are very tiring and I can understand his decision," she added.
Lindquist's decision was accepted with regret, Sontag said.
Lindquist became president of the small Plainfield school in 1981. Paul Joseph, a member of the executive board and chairman of the presidential evaluation committee, credited Lindquist with helping to put the small, alternative college back on the progressive education map.
"You say 'Goddard' in the education world and people say, 'Yes, doing good things,'" Joseph said.
"The next president will be building on the current strong position we're in and move us on to the next stage," he added.
