FIRED GODDARD WORKERS ASSAIL GREENE
PLAINFIELD - The 16 Goddard College employees who lost their jobs
last week called on the school's board of trustees to suspend the
firings pending a complete and impartial investigation.
The employees also asked the trustees to voluntarily recognize a
union representing faculty and staff at Goddard, and devote as much
time as is necessary during the board meeting this weekend to
discussing President Richard E. Greene's management style.
The fired employees said Greene has repeatedly violated Goddard's
governing principles and policies since he became the college's
president on July 1 1994. They made their complaints against Greene
during a press conference at the school's library Wednesday.
Mark Greenberg, one of the Goddard employees who lost his job,
said Greene is "systematically and ruthlessly" dismantling the
college with at least the tacit approval of the trustees.
"He is killing it under the guise of improving it," Greenberg said.
Greene's opponents claim 11 other employees have resigned and 12
others have been forced, to resign since Greene was named president
nearly two years ago.
The combination of the resignations and firings will have a broad
and lasting impact on the quality of education at Goddard, Greene's
critics said Wednesday.
Parents and students are already asking questions about the recent
turmoil at Goddard, said Catherine Weidner, an instructor and member
of the College Executive Committee. She said many are planning to
attend this weekend's trustees' meeting to find out what is going on.
"Many of the programs students depend on have been eliminated. The
education process has been severely disrupted," Jeanette Bacevius,
a Goddard student, said.
To back up claims that Greene is anti-union, Greenberg read a letter
from Seth Bramson, an instructor at St. Thomas University in Florida,
where Greene was president before coming to Goddard.
In the letter, Bramson said Greene will use "any means possible" to
stop the Goddard employees from forming a union.
Greene, however, disputed that claim saying Bramson was a disgruntled
employee who was angry because he didn't get a promotion.
"St. Thomas had a free and open election and the faculty turned down
a proposal to unionize," Greene said today.
In addition, Greene said a delegation from a Goddard search committee
went to St. Thomas University before he was hired and came back with
positive reports about his time there.
Greene said he believes that Goddard's board of trustees will give
the community a chance to comment on management of the college.
"If they want to do that, it will happen," Greene said today.
The president's critics Wednesday also asked the trustees for a chance
to present them with an alternative budget.
Weidner said the alternative budget would achieve $300,000 in savings
by spreading out the cuts more equally than Greene's proposal.
There would still be layoffs or job cuts, Weidner acknowledged, but
they would be done much more fairly than Greene's proposal.
Greene said be thinks the trustees will agree to look at the
alternative budget proposal this weekend as well as his plan.
Greenberg Wednesday repeated complaints that Greene fired him along
with two other employees -- Kiko Nobusawa and Manuel O'Neill -- simply
because they were members of the union organizing committee.
But Greene said he didn't even know who was on the union organizing
committee, and has told the community on several occasions that he has
no problem with a union forming.
"We encourage them -- in fact, we even told them that they could use
campus buildings for meetings," Greene said.
Greenberg said he, Nobusawa and O'Neill were the only employees who
lost their jobs last week who were also banned from campus. He said
that was evidence that they were all fired for their union activities.
Greene acknowledged that Greenberg, Nobusawa, and O'Neill were banned
from campus but said that stemmed from fears that they might be
disruptive, not because of their union activities.
Goddard's board of trustees will meet on Friday and Saturday. Greene
said it appears as if the community will have a chance to speak with
the trustees sometime around 11 a.m. Saturday.
Mark Greenberg, part-time associate campus faculty member, is
applauded by Jennifer Tripp Mead at a press conference Wednesday
held by fired Goddard College employees.
