Bennington Board Replaces Parker With a Trustee

The Board of Trustees of Bennington College Saturday named Joseph S. Iseman '37, a board member, as acting president of Bennington. Iseman replaces Gail Thain Parker '64, a former assistant professor of History and Literature at Harvard, who resigned the presidency of the embattled Vermont school last week.

Parker's husband David, for whom the position of vice-president had been created when Parker was appointed president in 1972, also resigned on Friday.

Iseman, a New York attorney and a former Crimson editor, Saturday called the Parkers' resignation "a traumatic and tragic business."

Parker, however, said on Saturday that, she feels "great" in the wake of Friday's announcement. "We certainly don't feel like sad victims after all of this."

The Parkers' resignation was apparently prompted, at least in part, by the recent erosion of trustee support for their administration.

Parker said that trustee sentiment in the past few weeks has shifted from the "full support" declared on several occasions by the board last year, to a desire on the part of some trustees to see parker compromise her position on a trustee-drafted financial overhaul scheme.

It was Parker's determination to support the board's so-called "futures report," which called for sweeping staff cutbacks aimed at easing the college's growing financial problems, that prompted several student and faculty votes of "no confidence" in her administration last December.

"A year ago, the trustees decided that these [financial] matters had to be faced squarely, and they put them in our hands," Parker said. "We weren't scared, and we faced all of them--but as a result I could have predicted all of this happening."

"In the last few weeks," a statement released Friday by the Parkers read, "a number of trustees have begun to feel that the heat in the kitchen threatens to set the whole house on fire."

"Unfortunately," it continued, "in now suggesting substantial compromise after having encouraged us all year to stand firm, the trustees have inadvertently made it impossible for us to function effectively in our current positions."

Iseman agreed with Parker's analysis. "Everything Gail and Tom did they did because the board asked them to," he said. "When the chips were down, it became difficult for the trustees to support them."

The recent turmoil, which has shaken the very foundations of the financially troubled school, may not end with the Parkers' resignation.

According to Parker, several of the trustees who sided most strongly with her in the dispute have either resigned or have threatened to resign.

May Abolish Post

Richard Tristman, professor of Literature at Bennington said Friday that the Bennington faculty, which has met regularly during the Parker controversy, may propose to the board the complete elimination of the college's presidency.

Iseman, who said he is not a candidate for the permanent Bennington presidency, added that the board will give serious consideration to the faculty's proposal.

Iseman, said that in the wake of the Parkers' resignation the board will appoint a "self-review" committee, as well as a joint student-faculty-trustee committee charged with seeking a new president for the college.

He added that his own appointment to the Bennington presidency came partially as a result of his involvement on the trustee committee appointed in December to review the Parker administration.

Iseman added that "under no circumstances" will he serve as Bennington's president beyond this June.

Tristman called the entire Parker controversy "very wearisome for the members of the Bennington community."

"I figured she'd cut her losses in the eyes of the world if she showed that her resignation came because of the untenability of her position and not because of political pressure," he said.

"Her resignation certainly won't solve our financial problem, but at least the chief obstruction to viewing these matters has been removed," she added.

Parker, 32, was the youngest woman president of any college in the United States.

"I'm sure that Harvard, women, and young people have not gained any stigma from all this," Tristman said.

Tristman described the Parkers as "ambitious and cyncial, and lacking cool," and said their resignation statement appeared "resentful."

Denies Arrogance

Parker emphatically rejected such characterizations. "It's been said that I'm elitist, arrogant, hard, and cold," she said. "It's interesting that none of those things were said before this year."

"I don't mind being characterized as firm, or as saying what had to be said, though," she added.

Iseman refused to discuss the details of the Parkers' contractual settlement with the board, but said that the matter "was settled amicably."

Parker described the settlement as "alimony," and laughed.

She said that she and her husband plan to remain in the Bennington area for the remainder of the spring term, "to do some writing, and to think about our various options."

Iseman called the Parkers' future "absolutely unlimited--she and Tom are extremely attractive people."

Parker seemed to agree. "I'll come out of this a lot better than the college, I'm sure," she concluded