{"id":3768,"date":"2026-06-05T20:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3768"},"modified":"2026-06-05T20:42:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:42:40","slug":"a-hero-for-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3768","title":{"rendered":"A Hero For Our Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This is Gillian Tett<\/a>, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge. The image shows her at a Financial Times<\/em> party in 2014. (Image credit: Financial Times licensed under Wikimedia Commons<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Fellows of King’s College have been found guilty of sexual misconduct, the classicist Prof Simon Goldhill and the geophysicist Prof Herbert Huppert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers of the blog will be familiar with the Simon Goldhill Scandal (see for example here<\/a> and here)<\/a>. His behaviour was well-known in the Classics Department and covered up. Similarly, the Herbert Huppert Scandal (see here<\/a>) was an open secret at his College, Department and even the Royal Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article in The Times<\/a>, Gillian Tett is quoted as saying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI came to King\u2019s with a personal commitment to build a community where every member is valued, protected and treated with dignity. The recent reporting has been deeply painful \u2014 for those directly affected, and for all of us who care about this community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am grateful to those who have had the courage to come forward. I want them to know that they are heard, and that action is being taken. I am personally committed to ensuring that every member of King\u2019s is treated with dignity and respect.\u201d [Gillian Tett]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These are powerful words — and, crucially, they have been matched by action. Simon Goldhill and Herbert Huppert are no longer Fellows of King\u2019s College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to recall a comparable moment in Cambridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, we have heard fine words from the University\u2019s senior leadership. What has been lacking is meaningful action — replaced instead by delay, deflection, and, so often, quiet institutional cover-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must make this moment count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, our focus will be at Bury St Edmunds Employment Tribunal. This is another shocking case, another watershed moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the principle of Open Justice, the proceedings of the Tribunal can be viewed by all interested. The witness statements and bundle will be available electronically as well. Please watch if you can, though the details are upsetting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross-examination begins at 10.00 am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Gillian Tett, Provost of King’s College, Cambridge. The image shows her at a Financial Times party in 2014. (Image credit: Financial Times licensed under Wikimedia Commons) Two Fellows of King’s College have been found guilty of sexual misconduct, the classicist Prof Simon Goldhill and the geophysicist Prof Herbert […]<\/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-3768","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\/3768","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=3768"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3774,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768\/revisions\/3774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}