Editor’s note: This commentary is by Erica Heilman of East Calais.
I am writing to express extreme disappointment at the news of Barbara Vacarr’s pending departure from Goddard. I live nearby in East Calais and I host “Rumble Strip Vermont,” a program at WGDR. I have a strong investment in Goddard’s success, and I was excited by Barbara’s energy and leadership. When I heard that she was stepping down, I was not surprised, given the challenges she’s faced since she started in 2010, but I was surprised at just how angry and disappointed I was.
Barbara put Goddard back on the map that extends beyond campus borders. She made consistent efforts to help the school integrate with the community. She seemed to understand that there was real opportunity in inviting the outside world into the school, and extending the school’s reach out into the community. The impulse seemed also shrewd, given that Goddard faces the same intense financial challenges that all colleges face.
Barbara hired competent, effective people from our community to make great things happen in central Vermont. She was instrumental in opening an art space in downtown Montpelier. She was instrumental in starting the music series at the Haybarn, which has brought world-class performers to central Vermont. She jumped at the chance to collaborate with a local playwright to bring a professional play development program to the school. She was pursuing ways to grow WGDR’s presence on the national stage of community radio. She was actively pursuing new and creative ways to use the campus for educational, financial and community gain.
Without strong, decisive leadership, long-term thinking, and the creative energy of someone like Barbara Vacarr, the staff and faculty at Goddard will find themselves still arguing … while the doors close.
I am from the area, so of course I have heard the stories of what’s happened here. I recognize also that I am not a faculty or staff member so have not experienced her leadership directly. Perhaps there is much nuance I’ve missed in the stories I’ve heard. Be that as it may, here’s a short list of my disappointments:
I was dismayed by the petulance displayed by certain Plainfield community members over the woodchip plant. I was impressed by her restraint and professionalism in dealing with this issue.
I was disappointed to hear that there was resistance to Barbara’s moving her office to a more public-facing location on campus. She was hired to be a leader. Of course she should have an office befitting a leadership position — an office that also acts as a face of the school.
I have heard about staff and faculty resistance to Vacarr’s emphasis on fundraising, anger over her hiring people to better market the school to the outside world. I have heard complaining about the way she organized the digital media conference. I have heard that certain staff and faculty feel the school doesn’t really **need** leadership … that the school would be better served by a kind of co-op leadership style. All of this, all of it seems absurd to me. Without strong, decisive leadership, long-term thinking, and the creative energy of someone like Barbara Vacarr, the staff and faculty at Goddard will find themselves still arguing … while the doors close.
It is my suspicion that the Goddard board of trustees has heard regular complaints from a loud minority of dissenters during Vacarr’s tenure at the school. If this is the case, maybe it’s now time for the silent majority to speak up?
