axe
Mungo Soggot and David Shapshak
Wits University axed Ron Clarke, the palaeoanthropologist responsible for last week’s sensational fossil find in Sterkfontein, despite receiving several written pleas from eminent international scientists to keep him on.
Three top fossil academics based in the United States have confirmed they attempted to persuade the university to reconsider its decision in March to axe Clarke – a blunder accentuated by the blaze of international glory Clarke has brought to Wits with his discovery of a virtually intact 3,5-million-year-old hominid skeleton.
Clark Howell of the University of California at Berkley, Ohio State University’s Jeffrey McKee, and Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History, confirmed this week they had written in support of Clarke. McKee said Clarke was “by far the most important individual in terms of reconstructing skulls”.
But their pleas fell on deaf ears. The head of the Palaeoanthropological Research Group (Parg) at Wits, Lee Berger, went ahead and sacked the British scientist who is regarded as one of the world’s most experienced palaeoanthropological fieldworkers.
Berger has so far borne all the blame for the decision to terminate Clarke’s renewable contract. It now appears other heavyweights in the Wits hierarchy could have endorsed Berger’s decision.
The US scientists penned their letters either to members of the Palaeoanthropological Scientific Trust (Past) or to the university’s then acting deputy vice-chancellor in charge of research, Professor Peter Tyson. Tyson was on holiday this week and unavailable for comment.
The Past board is chaired by the former chair of Anglo American, Gavin Relly, who now runs the mining giant’s chairman’s fund. Past was set up ahead of the retirement of the doyen of South African palaeoanthropology, Phillip Tobias, in a bid to secure the future of the discipline at Wits after Tobias’s departure. Neither Relly nor John Cruise, a member of the Past board who is believed to have backed Clarke, could be reached for comment.
Berger has never explained why he ousted Clarke, claiming last week that Clarke “chose to leave” – a contention Clarke himself dismissed on national radio last Friday when he said he had asked Berger to let him stay.
“I did have some discussions to try and sort out this problem earlier, but it was made clear to me that I had to find work elsewhere and I did.” Clarke, who has tied up a permanent post at a German university, emphasised on radio it was Berger, and not Wits, who had axed him.
After the press conference to announce the fossil find at Wits last week, Berger said Clarke’s departure was a great loss to Wits and that when the discovery was made known “we begged him and begged him to stay”.
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that Berger informed Clarke his contract would not be renewed several months after Clarke had found vital clues to the skeleton’s existence.
Berger was also quoted as having said in May to the editor of the South African Journal of Science that Clarke had “no great record -nor are his skills so special. The methods at Sterkfontein are 30 years old and expensive. Besides, all sites need a rest now and then.”
In the wake of the furore surrounding Clarke’s departure, the powers of both Berger and Parg have been diluted. It is understood the university has transferred responsibility for Sterkfontein from Parg to the department of anatomical sciences. Berger declined to comment on this, or any other aspect of the saga, referring all queries to Wits vice-chancellor Colin Bundy.
Bundy said the university had set up a panel of international experts – including both Clarke and Berger – last Thursday to monitor palaeoanthropological finds.
Bundy, who had nothing to do with the decision to oust Clarke, signalled this week that he would try and revise the university’s rules to prevent a similar occurrence from taking place. Bundy said he had not known of the letters of support from foreign scientists. He also did not know whether Berger had consulted anyone else in the university about the decision.
“This saga apart, the university will need to revisit the way in which it handles employment contracts,” Bundy said.
Bundy said Berger’s decision to axe Clarke had to be seen in context – namely that Clarke had not released details of his discovery by the first quarter of this year. “Berger took the decision in complete ignorance.”
Nevertheless, in June 1997, Clarke announced in a lecture in Florida that he had found 12 bones from the same skeleton and was convinced there was a complete skeleton waiting to be unearthed in Sterkfontein.
Wits has tried to put a positive spin on the fiasco by stressing that Clarke will continue his association with the university by becoming an honorary research fellow and by suggesting that Clarke could return to the university in a permanent capacity.
Clarke said this week: “I would like to make it clear that I have made no undertaking whatsoever to come back to Wits. Wits would like me to return, but I have made it clear to them that I have accepted the German post and will honour that commitment.”
l Tobias denied in a letter to the M&G this week that he had backed Berger to take over Parg on his retirement.