A sore sport

To the Editor:

I am writing this letter in response to an appalling letter to the editor published in The Daily Pennsylvanian ("Does Penn want us to stay?" 2/18/05) in which a former Penn undergrad student expressed his disappointment in not being accepted into the graduate program of endodontics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. This candidate falsely accused one of our directors of making anti-Semitic comments.

I have been a faculty member of the School of Dental Medicine for 14 years and currently serve as associate professor of endodontics and assistant director of graduate endodontics. As a Jewish faculty member teaching in a multi-ethnic department, I can assure you there has never been so much as a hint of any racial slurs or anti-Semitic comments in all my years at Penn.

What I find most interesting is that after seeing this letter in The Daily Pennsylvanian, I pulled this candidate's file to refresh my memory regarding his application. In the applicant's folder was a lovely thank-you note, sent after his interview, "thanking the chairman for a great interview," as well as the comment that "you have a great program with very happy and proud residents." Then, weeks later, when he was notified that he was not accepted into the program, the candidate wrote the letter to your publication demeaning our department. If this candidate was so insulted by the alleged comments, why did he not withdraw from consideration and write the letter to the editor immediately? To me it sounds like a disgruntled student who was disappointed at not being accepted into a very competitive graduate program.

Samuel Kratchman

The author is assistant director of postgraduate endodontics at the Penn Dental School

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