Antarctica , the best approximation thisaccursed globehas to the oddment of the Earth , is a mysterious and isolated desert . With no settle residential district and a terrain that , until very lately , wasmore foreign to us than that of Mars , it ’s been left to generations ofill - fated explorersand unfearing geologist to , quite literally , get their name on the map – and , should the message of their mind , hearts , or pocket prove them suitable , it ’s theUS Board on Geographic Names(BGN ) that do it prescribed .
Back in 1994 , the BGN decided to name a glacier in Antarctica ’s Victoria Land region Marchant Glacier , after David Marchant , a University of Maine researcher who hadworked on a project[PDF ] mapping the nearby geology .
But , about a quarter of a century later , the honor has been revoke . Marchant Glacier is now Matataua Glacier – and we may have science’svery own " Me Too " movementto thank for that .
By 1999 , Marchant was an assistant prof at Boston University ( BU ) , and Jane Willenbring was a 22 - year - old graduate student work out with him on a field expedition to the Antarctic .
" Most day , I would heed to long discourse about how I was a ‘ slut ’ or a ‘ harlot , ’ " WillenbringtoldBU investigator . If she object , she said , " he would call me a prevaricator and say , ‘ There ’s no place in skill for liars , is there Jane ? ’ "
Willenbring , now an associate professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego , first filed a complaint about Marchant ’s disturbing behaviour in 2016 , reportsEarther – wait , in a display ofdepressingly necessary prudence , until after she receive term of office to avoid professional reprisal . Marchant had subject her to verbal and strong-arm harassment , she said , stuff her down slope , severalise her to have sexual urge with his " porn - sized " brother , and even throwing rock at her when she piss – when she developed a urinary tract contagion from her attempts to avoid this , she allege , Marchant refused to allow her return to base for treatment .
Although Marchantremains on pay administrative leavefrom BU while his solicitation is conceive , the BGN rule last workweek that his eponymic glacier would get a name change . formally , the move " work the name of this feature into alliance with ACAN [ Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names ] policies " – though BGN Executive Secretary Louis Yost told Earther the commission was aware of Marchant ’s instance when they issue the testimonial .
" I think … under the old insurance policy , the name was lend too early in the career , " he explain . " We did n’t cognise what was to come afterwards . "
Nownamed to rival the nearby Mata Taua Peak , the 11 - km - long ( 7 - mile ) glacier ’s new cognomen is a Māori word stand for " a scout before the flock " .
Marchant is n’t the only researcher lately to lose an accolade due to bad behaviour – back in July , a herpetologist had hislifetime achievement honour directly revokedafter fill his espousal oral communication with pictures of barely - clad women . But whennearly three - quartersof female academics written report having been sexually harassed during fieldwork , this renaming of Matataua Glacier seems like a significant and – for Willenbring , at least – welcome step .
" To me , this is a determination that is a skillful one and that people should be congratulated for , " Willenbring assure Earther . " Maybe to some people it would be a small matter , but any form of recognition gives people power . "
