{"id":2443,"date":"2025-07-27T07:27:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2025-07-29T08:51:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:51:46","slug":"the-story-of-the-snake-a-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2443","title":{"rendered":"The Story of the Snake — A Fable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, in a Department nestled within a Seat of Learning, there was a Researcher. One unusually bright winter day, the Researcher proposed a project for an internship scheme in the upcoming summer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the applicants was a clever Student with a High Widening Participation Score \u2014 a measure reflecting the adversity he had overcome. The Head of Department saw the High Widening Participation Score and was pleased. The Researcher was encouraged to support the Student, who had expressed a desire to work on the Researcher\u2019s project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a fruitful meeting, the Researcher and the Student refined the project. The Student eventually submitted this project as his final choice. The Researcher was impressed by the Student and wrote a strong reference in support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far \u2014 a dull story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then came a bizarre twist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department contacted the Student to announce he had been awarded the internship but that the Researcher could not supervise him. The project would continue under a different Supervisor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Student was instructed not to contact the Researcher at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, the Student accepted this strange change. However, once the work began, he realized that the new Supervisor had no knowledge of the subject. Lost and frustrated, the Student reached out to the Researcher who had originally proposed the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Researcher learned from the Student that his project had been co-opted without his consent. The Supervisor lacked the expertise to guide it and had even sought help from a very distinguished Professor \u2014 who was also at a loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wanting to protect the Student\u2019s experience, the Researcher decided to support the Student in the background. One day, the Head of Department discovered this interaction and became very angry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Head emailed the Student, copying multiple senior officials and the very distinguished Professor, but not the Researcher. The Head reminded the Student who his formal Supervisor was, that he had to respond to his Supervisor only, and stressed that the Department was paying his stipend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Student stood his ground. He replied to all, the Head, the very distinguished Professor, all the officials and the Researcher, and explained that he would continue to consult the Researcher, who was the only one capable of guiding the work. The Student also asked the Head why he had been told an untrue story about that project, but the Head never replied. The Student and the Researcher raised complaints, but no-one ever responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, a new creature slithered into the fable. The Snake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Snake possessed no scholarly insight or intellectual merits, but had great knowledge of Sorcery and the Dark Arts. The Snake, in a message copied to many senior academics, told the Researcher that he had only been involved in proposing the project initially, and denied that any plagiarism or misconduct had occurred. The Researcher responded to the Snake, but was warned he may be investigated if he continued to protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Snake had no understanding of ethics or research integrity. Nor did the Snake seem troubled by the Head of Department intimidating a Student, a 19-year-old to be sure \u2014 even one selected precisely for a program aimed at helping those from challenging backgrounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why did this happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not for the Student\u2019s benefit. That much was clear. The Department had seemingly sought the glow of the Student\u2019s High Widening Participation Score. The rest, including his education and dignity, was dispensable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as for the Researcher? Well, he had previously reported a case of harassment that involved some of the same senior figures now aligned against him. The only solution was to push him out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, the tale ends \u2014 for now \u2014 not with justice or apology, but with courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Student refused to be silenced. The Researcher refused to be erased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even in a world where so many Distinguished Academics may avert their gaze, Truth has a way of persevering, much like good research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us hope that this fable is also a turning point \u2014 the moment when a broken system began to heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 21 Group thanks our contributor and emphasises that this is a fantasy. The persons and events in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events or real persons is purely coincidental.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image from Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables is by the illustrator Percy James Billinghurst & is reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution<\/em> — see<\/em> here<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, in a Department nestled within a Seat of Learning, there was a Researcher. One unusually bright winter day, the Researcher proposed a project for an internship scheme in the upcoming summer.  Among the applicants was a clever Student with a High Widening Participation Score \u2014 a measure reflecting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}