GODDARD CUTS UNDER PROTEST
Goddard College's director of financial aid began a three-day hunger strike Monday to protest what he calls the college administration's failure to treat its faculty and staff justly.
An internal council comprising faculty and students is working on a budget that might require layoffs. Supporters of the hunger strike said that it looks like $360,000 will be cut from the $5 million budget and those who will lose their jobs should have been told by now.
"I think that the current administration has violated the mission statement of the college," said Manuel O'Neil, who has worked for Goddard for 9 1/2 years and heads the financial aid department. "The administration's acting unilaterally to undermine that mission statement and is corporatizing the college."
Goddard President Richard Greene, who has led the school for two years, said O'Neil's supporters are wrong in their estimation of the extent of the cuts.
"Were trying to do some cost containment," Greene said, pointing to the internal committee of students and faculty as proof that the possible cuts are being done in a collaborative fashion. "We've held the line on tuition and decided on zero growth for next year. When the committee decided on that, we had to live within a lean budget."
Greene said he hasn't made any specific decisions about which employees will lose their jobs because the college's collaborative process has not concluded.
"Were still looking at every alternative," he said.
Kiko Nobusawa, who coordinates the campus program for the college's 140 resident undergraduates, said the dissatisfaction with Greene's leadership comes on the heels of two administrators' resignations. Peter Burns, admission director, resigned Thursday, and Stephen Schapiro, former dean of academic affairs, resigned in October.
"At a community meeting that was attended by 70 or 80 members, there was a unanimous vote of no confidence," Nobusawa said.
