GODDARD STUDENTS AND FACULTY SAY THEY ARE UPSET WITH PRESIDENT
PLAINFIELD -- Students, faculty and staff at one of the nation's most progressive educational institutions say they fear the "soul" of Goddard College is about to be sacrificed on the altar of "corporate America."
Nestled in the heart of the tiny town of Plainfield, Goddard has historically been activist campus were students and staff are encouraged to express their opinions with a reasonable expectation that they will be listened to.
However, many say that has changed during the two-year tenure of President Richard Greene -- a man they claim has managed to turn a "democracy" into a "dictatorship."
That widespread perception prompted a student protests, faculty vote of "no confidence" and an administrative resignation last week.
"It has been a long slow burn since Dick (Greene) started," said Goddard Admissions Director Peter Burns, who touched off student protests when he tendered his resignation Thursday.
"This is not something that happened overnight," he said, describing "widespread unrest" over Greene's management style.
"It's not a new situation... that's why I left," he said.
Faculty member Catherine Weidner agreed with Burns assessment. She said reports that recent upheaval was tied to impending budget cuts that might involve layoffs was an oversimplification of what she described as a much broader problem. Like Burns, she pointed to Greene's management style.
"There is a climate of fear on this campus right now because of his (Greene's) management style," said Weidner, who suggested morale was as poor as she has ever seen it.
"He (Greene) is governing a community from which he has no support," she said. "That does nothing but foster fear."
At a college where the position of "president" is often seen as superfluous, Weidner said Greene's "corporate" approach education has alienated many.
"The president (Greene) wants to make changes in a place where people want to talk about changes and have input on changes," Weidner said. "That's the quagmire were in.
"There's a lot of pressure from the top down and that's very 'un-Goddardly,'" she added.
Mark Greenberg, another member of the Goddard faculty, said Greene's administration had managed to "radically alter the image of Goddard College" by creating a "corporate atmosphere" on a campus where "human resources" have always mattered more than the bottom line.
"He is a threat to the very principles that Goddard is based on," Greenberg said describing Greene's management style as "dictatorial and hierarchical"
"He (Greene) won't provide the carpenter with a hammer, yet he'll fire the carpenter for not being able to hit the nail," Greenberg said. "That doesn't play well at Goddard."
Greene, who met with students following Thursday's protests and returned to the campus to continue discussions on Saturday, rejected the notion that he was not willing to listen.
"I and came to listen to what they (the students) had to say," he said, suggesting it was "a very productive discussion" that will resume next week.
Greene said he respected the "democratic ideals" upon which Goddard was founded, but had asked students understand that a hierarchy did exist within that democracy.
"The question of how do we collaborate within a hierarchy is a question students and Goddard has been trying to determine since the school was founded in 1938," Greene said. "It is a constant conflict that we have."
Jennifer Reardon, a student and Goddard, said she was not satisfied by the meeting with Green -- a meeting said she said was long on rhetorical and short on communication.
