Mary Louise Shuman, who attended Dickinson during World War II, reports in an interview that Dickinson College had difficulty when it moved female students to East College. According to Shuman, the dean of women was concerned because the building, which had not previously been a women's dormitory, had fire escapes; she worried that men would enter the dormitory via the fire escapes. Shuman explains, "They asked George to put a special man on to guard the East College Dormitory." She remembers George telling her a story about the guard: while the guard reported never having a problem with men entering through the fire escapes, he did not know what to do about the women leaving through the fire escapes. George Shuman was superintendent of buildings and grounds at the time.