GODDARD FACULTY WANT PRESIDENT GONE
PLAINFIELD -- The faculty at Goddard College has issued a formal vote of no confidence in President Richard E. Greene and is calling for his immediate resignation.
The vote by about 50 faculty members to seek Greene's ouster was nearly unanimous, said Kenneth Bergstrom, who teaches at Goddard.
A letter outlining the faculty's concerns about Greene was delivered on Friday to Jane O'Meara Sanders, the chairwoman of Goddard's Board of Trustees.
After receiving the letter, Sanders called a meeting of the executive committee of Goddard's Board of Trustees to discuss the faculty's vote, but refused to say what their response might be.
"It would be premature for me to represent the wishes of the Board," Sanders, a Goddard alumna, who is married to Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said.
A full meeting of Goddard's 25 member Board of Trustees could be called to discuss the situation Sanders said, but nothing has been decided. The Board, which includes members from all over the country, isn't scheduled to meet in person until June.
Bergstrom, who also serves on the schools College Executive Committee (CEC), said the faculty hopes the Board will hold a special meeting as soon as possible to discuss the faculty vote.
"We hope that the Board will pay more attention to the problems we have with this administration, and take them more seriously," Bergstrom said.
In its letter to the Board of Trustees, the faculty said Greene is "threatening the very soul of Goddard in placing its long tradition of progressive education in jeopardy."
"We believe the president is seriously mismanaging the finances and operation of the college, and employing a 'management style' that is demoralizing staff, faculty and students. We have no confidence in his leadership at this point and feel you must resign immediately," the faculty said in the three page letter.
The faculty went on to say it did not reach this decision lightly and has tried repeatedly to get Greene to address their concerns during the past 20 months.
"We have articulated our concerns repeatedly to no avail; we finally have concluded ... that he must be required to resign before his damage to the college, its educational program, and its human resources become irreversible," the letter said.
Sanders, who was on Goddard's campus last Saturday, said she is fully aware of the faculty's concerns.
But Sanders said everyone a Goddard was involved in the process that led to Greene's selection as president in July 1994, and knew he was hired to make the college run more efficiently.
Bergstrom said the faculty did participate and approve the decision to hire Greene.
"We felt that perhaps we didn't need a progressive educator. Instead we wanted someone with fiscal responsibility, who was also good fundraiser, but we've been disappointed with Greene's performance in both areas," Bergstrom said.
Sanders said Goddard also made a decision as a community not to raise tuition next year, and knew this would probably lead to some cuts and personnel.
"We're dealing with very difficult choices that we decided to make. We would still have a lot of issues to deal with even if Dr. Greene were to leave tomorrow," Sanders said.
But Bergstrom said the faculty believes Greene has made Goddard's fiscal situation worse, and makes too many decisions on his own.
"He doesn't understand what we do at Goddard, and how we do it. This is a philosophical debate," Bergstrom said.
In fact, Bergstrom said Goddard might be better off if it had an entirely new administrative structure that doesn't include a president.
Sanders, however, said she thinks it is still possible to bring everyone at Goddard together.
"I hope we can open up the lines of communication. I'd like to break the cycle of blame that goes on at Goddard. We need to recognize that the blame doesn't lie at one doorstep," Sanders said.
Protest against Greene began last Thursday after Peter Burns, Goddard's director of admissions, submitted his resignation.
Burns' resignation came around the same time word leaked out that the CEC was considering staff cuts to deal with a $240,000 deficit, and a consulting firm hired by Greene to beef up the school's admissions arrived on campus.
