As current faculty who worked with Dean George Allan, we want to respond to the recent article in Change and recognize the accomplishments of the College, initiated by many and supported by George, during his tenure as dean.

The following represent some of the All-College Initiatives in governance, faculty development, and curricular innovation:

• A participatory governance structure that includes representation of the faculty, administration, staff and students
• Affirmative action in hiring and gender equity as a salary principle
• A Faculty handbook that codifies these processes
• A fair, peer-reviewed, and relatively transparent tenure and promotion system

• Increased evaluation standards for faculty publication, teaching, and service Increased funding for Research and Development
• Organized peer-reviewed processes for R&D
• Yearly 1% Faculty Travel Funds for every faculty member
• Internal and external departmental evaluations every 10 years
• An E. I. Lilly Foundation Grant, which supported the development of both the Freshman Seminar and Internship programs
• Computerization of the campus, including micros in all offices and a replacement/update process

• Development of the overseas study programs (except Bologna) and most of the interdisciplinary area studies programs
• The National Endowment for the Humanities Grant and required matching funds which provided the endowment on which virtually all Global Education programs rely
• The Clarke Center
• The Innovation Fund
• Establishment of the Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum

• The Trout Gallery
• Residency programs for professional musicians
• Theater and Dance Department
• Emil R. Weiss Center for the Humanities

• Workshop Physics
• Workshop Calculus
• BenchChem
• Whitaker Foundation grant to fund collaborative faculty-student research
• Science Executive Committee (SXC)
• Project Kaleidoscope

• Contending Perspectives in Economics
• Faculty-student collaborative fieldwork in the social sciences with the Three Mile Island project
• American Studies and Environmental Studies departments
• Women's Studies
• Steelton Mosaic

The accomplishments of the current administration, which are many, have built on the past while moving ahead significantly in dealing with economic exigencies, articulating a strategic plan, making the college more visible, and invigorating Admissions. Now—as in the past—this has required collaboration, a lot of hard work, and wit.

The characterization of Allan's administration as "Soviet-style" in the Change article is simply untrue. In fact, no one has said it better than George himself. In a recent email he wrote:

I had never realized I was such a clever dialectician, but bread and circuses deception was hardly Stalinist: he just imposed his tyranny in an honest straightforward way. It's Augustus Caesar who was the b&c guy. -George

Well, George was neither Stalin nor Caesar, and this is not a perfect place—but it is a healthy one.

We offer this refutation of the Change article in the spirit of collegiality and mutual respect that has, for the most part, made Dickinson an unusually good place to work and live one's intellectual life. We expect such a spirit will continue to characterize the College as we welcome our new and talented colleagues, and move with them toward the evolution critical to a vital and relevant intellectual community.

This statement has been signed by over 60 current Dickinson faculty members who worked with George Allan.