Goddard College President to Step Down, Citing Crises in Family

Barbara Vacarr, president of Goddard College, announced late last week that she would step down from her position at the end of the year to focus on members of her family who have health problems.

Her announcement comes two years before the end of her five-year contract, as the college grapples with a tough union negotiation and struggles with declining enrollment. Some faculty members have been harshly critical of her administration, blaming her for declines in enrollment, while others say that she effectively raised the profile of the college. Members of Goddard’s Board of Trustees expressed support for the president in the announcement.

In an interview, Ms. Vacarr said that her daughter had a difficult labor with her first child a few weeks ago, which led to a Caesarean birth, two blood transfusions, and three serious infections. “She is not out of the woods,” she said. Her nonagenarian parents are also ailing and need attention from Ms. Vacarr and her husband.

Ms. Vacarr said that she found the challenges facing Goddard “stimulating” and that the decision to leave “has been really difficult and been strictly because of my family.”

“I am committed to what Goddard has to offer, but my decision was pushed by having to balance the demands,” she said. “I could not give either what they needed if I tried to do both.”

Ms. Vacarr said she doesn’t know how long she will have to step away from her professional life, but noted that she plans to continue working in higher education—particularly in the sort of progressive education that Goddard offers. (Ms. Vacarr was a nontraditional student, much like students Goddard serves.)

In the past decade, Goddard engineered an extraordinary transformation from a college on the verge of closing to one that had burgeoning growth and ample revenue. With a bold move in 2002, the college closed its campus program and adopted as its main offering its low-residency program, in which students spend only about a week per semester on the campus. Goddard invented the low-residency model in the 1960s, and it has since been adopted by dozens of colleges.

In the past few years, however, Goddard’s enrollment has flagged—falling from 804 students in 2010 to 628 in 2013—which has been a factor in a $1.5-million two-year deficit projection at the college. Local news media have also reported on disputes between the faculty and staff unions and the administration.

“Due to a number of internal and external factors, Goddard suffered reversals in recent years, and it needs to be given an opportunity to recover,” Francis X. Charet, a faculty member in Goddard’s individualized-studies program and a former president of the faculty union, said in a written statement. “Regrettably, there is little confidence among a majority of the Goddard community that Barbara Vacarr and her administration are able to turn things around and accomplish this.”

In an interview, Mr. Charet said that faculty members had been concerned about their lack of input in installing administrators at the college, the number of consultants the administration had hired, and inattention to enrollment.

Other faculty members disagreed. Steven E. James, director of Goddard’s psychology and counseling program, said that disgruntled faculty members constituted a “vocal minority.”

“Most people recognize that her initiatives were good,” he said.

Jacqueline Hayes, Goddard’s academic dean, said that it’s hard to tell which side dominates in a “complicated moment” but added, “I think she set us on a good course.”

“We are in the middle of union negotiations on top of everything else, which adds another layer of strain,” she said. “It’s a politicized environment in which we are managing enrollment declines and decreased revenue.”

Ms. Hayes said she had received many e-mail messages from faculty members who expressed concern for Ms. Vacarr’s family, and for the future of the college. “I am seeing a lot of compassion and wondering what’s happening next.”