PLAINFIELD -- The admissions officers work nights now, prime time for telemarketing. (Blame a consulting firm.) The battered blacktop that wound through the secluded campus has been replaced by patterned brick. (Blame frost heaves.) Staff members are resigning. Others are unionizing. The faculty is revolting. (Blame the president).

Welcome to Goddard College. The small liberal arts college in Central Vermont was founded in 1863 on principles of progressive education and participatory democracy. When campuses across the country were hotheads of political and social change, Goddard flourished. Enrollment peak at about 2000 in the early to mid-1970s.

At Goddard, collaboration is as vital to the college's identity as the endowment is to Harvard.

But reconciling these democratic ideals with a standard college hierarchy of the Board of Trustees and a president has been a struggle -- a balancing act -- for almost 60 years.

Into this drama stepped Richard Greene, an educator and historian who took over the Goddard presidency in July 1994. He said he was hired to make hard changes including increasing enrollment in returning Goddard to national prominence.

Many on-campus call the hire a mismatch. They claim Greene makes decisions -- like hiring a consulting firm or changing workers' hours -- without the college's traditional campuswide discussion.

"Hiring Dick was like bringing a new CEO to Ben & Jerry's who says, 'We got to get rid of these pint things and the chunks are way too big,'" said Peter Burns, who resigned April 10 as director of admissions. "'We have to make our ice cream look like everyone else's.'"

At Goddard, students design and manage their curricula in collaboration with faculty advisers. The community meets regularly to talk about campus life and make policy. The governing principles call for democratic participation with "clearly defined lines of authority and decision-making."

Since Royce "Tim" Pitkin became the first president in 1938, Goddard's leaders have tried to interpret and balance these governing principles. The school has had nine president since 1969.

"It was easily the toughest assignment I had in 20 years of professional administration," said Jackson Kytle, Greene's predecessor at Goddard who is now vice president of Norwich University and dean of Vermont College.

But perhaps no presidency has resulted in the divisiveness that permeates the campus under Greene. Four administrators, including dean of academic affairs Stephen Schapiro, have resigned during this academic year; a union drive is proceeding; and students say they feel cut off from the administration and concerned about educational opportunities.

The most pronounced dissension has come from the faculty. In a three-page letter to Greene and the board accompanying a vote of no confidence, the faculty declared Greene's hire a "mistake," and called his administration a "disaster."

"Goddard's cost: Tuition, room and board for on-campus students: $19,992 a year; $14,632 of which is tuition.

Tuition for off-campus undergraduate students: $6996 per year; graduate students off-campus pay $8056 a year."

While the faculty, staff and students object to specific policies and incidents under Greene, they claim there's something bigger at stake. The president, they contend, is violating the democratic terms upon which Goddard was built and eroding the school's soul in the process.

BELOW: Student expression is highly encouraged at Goddard College. While the administration handles complaints from teachers, this display on the grounds of the college speaks about the students' attitude toward the turmoil.

"I've never seen the faculty as unified in its opposition to the president; I've never seen the student body so alienated, and I've never seen the staff so afraid," said Daniel Chodorkoff, a Goddard graduate and faculty member for 22 years. "I'm concerned for the soul of the college, the institutional identity."

The focus of the complaints is three-fold:

ACADEMIC STRUCTURE: Greene is talking about increasing the faculty teaching load; increasing class size; and bringing up to 100 new students this fall to the college with 144 students on-campus and another 339 off-campus. He hopes to increase enrollment to 900 to 1000 students over five years, with 300 on-campus.

JOB SECURITY: Staff members worry about layoffs as a 13-member Goddard executive committee attempt to write a 1997 budget of about $5.5 million. The Board of Trustees has agreed not to raise tuition and that means the budget next year will be lean.

"We're going through a painful budget process as most colleges are," Greene said.

An earlier Greene reorganization led to the dismissal of four employees. Employees fear that what had been routine contract renewals will become arbitrary reviews and possible layoffs.

GOVERNANCE: Faculty, staff and students say Greene has eroded the collaboration that is fundamental to Goddard, a charge Greene dismisses as "bogus."

"It's very hard here as a professional to be able to carry out your duties, to do what's required of you because people get into your areas."

Board chairwoman Jane Sanders echoes that sentiment and supports Greene.

"Since I've been on the board I've been amazed by two things," Sanders said. "One is how long it takes for decisions to be made. The second is how insular Goddard has become. There are some things that really need the attention of higher education, and Goddard should be in the leadership of continuing to fight for social change. Not continuing to fight each other."

And there are certainly problems to contend with: Fundraising is down, and fall enrollment was 40 students shy of the projected 505. Students are concerned about the college's future.

In Greene's first year, gifts totaled $415,216, comparable to the preceding year, but $117,000 less than in 1992-93. With two months remaining in the current fiscal year, the college has raised $173,020.

"The thing that frightens me most is the threat of a limited faculty," said Derek Poole, 23. "I feel like a lot of the opportunities that I came here seeking, including the idea that human rights and equal rights of student and faculty were practiced, will be limited."

The call for Greene's resignation was the culmination of the faculty's growing disenchantment -- and an action that brought Goddard's internal flighting into public view.

ABOVE: David Webster (right), a level 2 student from Colorado, gets a message from Jenny Reardon, a level 5 student from Ithaca, N.Y., as they prepare for a campus photo recently. Some students feel cut off from the administration of President Richard Greene, whom they believe does not include them as he should in decision-making."

But Greene, who came to Goddard from the presidency of a small Catholic college in

Greene

Miami, says he has never considered stepping down. The 64-year-old New Englander calls the faculty action a form of intimidation.

Monday, he received the formal support of the Board of Trustees.

For longtime employees like Lucille Cerutti, campus turbulence is as much a part of Goddard's tradition as the annual Work Day -- a once-a-semester day set-aside for cleaning, gardening and painting.

Last week, as a work Day unfolded around her, Cerutti sat in her office answering phones.

"We sort of got into a rut and I think it's high time we take a look at ourselves," said Cerutti, 71. "We've done this a number of times to presidents. Hopefully, we can learn from it eventually -- how to be more sensitive to people."