THE NEWS THAT minority applications to the Medical School have declined 35 per cent from last year largely because of a racial controversy needlessly provoked by a Medical School professor is greatly disheartening.

The assertions made last spring by Dr. Bernard D. Davis '32, Lehman Professor of Bacterial Physiology, that academic standards in medical schools have fallen in recent years because of the rise in the number of minority students admitted "with substandard academic qualifications" had the immediate ill-effect of cheapening blacks' hard won gains. Davis made it seem as if black students were receiving diplomas out of charity. Some patients became suspicious of black doctors and asked whites to treat them.

These new statistics point once again to the irresponsibility of casting doubt upon students' ability and competence. And there can be little doubt that Davis's statements are at the root of the applications decline: four other major medical schools reported no decrease in the number of minority applicants.

Davis has given the Med School a stigma that may be difficult to dispel. The remarks of Phillip R. Pittman, chairman of the Med School's Third World Caucus, that "many students have a feeling of selling out if they apply to Harvard Medical School" reveals the great difficulty Harvard Med may have in getting qualified minorities to apply in the future.

In the wake of these disheartening reports the Med School must continue its vigorous recruitment of minority students and convince them that Davis's irresponsible statements do not represent the policies of the Medical School.