ALLEGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT

To the Editors of The Crimson:

As I was Chairman of the Department of Government at the time of its action on the promotion of Doris Kearns, I think I should respond to certain allegations in your editorial of October 8 regarding the Department's reconsideration of its earlier recommendation of tenure. There is no truth to the claim that "clearly" the Department's action was a "reaction to outside publicity" or that the Department was engaged in "dictating to scholars how and what they should publish." It is inconceivable--indeed, it is ludicrous--to suppose that the Department was influenced by an editorial in the Wall Street Journal; if my colleagues took note of that at all, it would if anything have the opposite effect of what the paper intended. The Department met to consider the manuscript on which its decision about tenure depended, and it considered that matter only. Dr. Kearns kept us informed, independently of the press furor, of the state of her manuscript and her plans for publication and asked us for our judgment as to its quality in its various versions. We responded. Decisions about tenure are made on grounds of scholarly achievements and promise, and this decision followed that principle. As to the details of our judgment, that is and shall remain a private matter. James Q. Wilson   Shattuck Professor of Government