A Rock and a Hard Place by George Zelt PhD

Author:George Zelt PhD
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626345720
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Published: 2019-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Sacrificed

Patrick and I drove back to Cape Town with me wondering again about my situation. It was infecting my mind like a disease. I had to face Afrikaner Joost. Why did this geological discrepancy have to happen to my project? It seemed an unjust allocation of responsibility for a student to have to deal with.

I never wanted to stand out, let alone as the bad guy. I did not want to think about grossly manipulating the data I’d found since I began my project—over the past year and a half—simply so I could agree with a confused professor. I couldn’t get it off my mind. However impossible the idea was, hell—there was no middle ground.

I’d gone over and over the data since I started questioning Joost’s conclusion some ten months ago and began living with the resulting confusion and anger. I had no choice now but to take the first major step into the fire, even though I unfortunately didn’t have all the electron microprobe data I needed. I’d have to take a chance that I’d be able to explain my findings and be believed. Perhaps I’d delayed too long. But working in the field and building a geological story of what happened to the earth a billion years ago takes time. That’s why four years of total study are advocated to prepare a PhD dissertation.

I dreaded the confrontation, but the time had come. I presented my current conclusions to Afrikaner Joost.

He smirked and said—yet again—he was sure he was right. He didn’t even ask to see my evidence. He brushed me off, smiling as if I were a child.

I spoke to my advisor, Professor NASA. Again, I left no room for exceptions; I showed him on a map what I’d found. From his answer, it seemed he either didn’t understand metamorphic petrology or he didn’t want to get involved.

How could that be? The whole thing was a fucking circus. He said he would talk to Joost. But it seemed that Joost had already spoken to him and convinced him I was wrong. It didn’t feel like a topic open for discussion. It was scary and confusing.

My private office was relocated to a large community room. It was a move to degrade me. And it worked: I was dropping down the ladder rung by humiliating rung.

From whispering to open discussion, everyone in the department became aware of my situation. I was walking the plank. Department personnel stayed visible friends with Afrikaner Joost, who kept a sociable know-all smile on his face. He was the guy with the money; they needed him and Professor NASA supported him. He knew that. What would be their next move?

“You are to present your findings to the whole department,” my advisor said. “I want you to take this presentation seriously.” Beyond this, he did not offer one scrap of help—not a word of guidance. I reluctantly concluded later that he really didn’t want me to succeed. I was being set up. I listened to him, though, because his academic accomplishments were formidable.

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