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Professor Jason Arday - plagiarism etc

(359 Posts)
Primrose53 Tue 04-Aug-26 22:15:36

Yet another seemingly Walter Mitty character but this guy has gone far seemingly unchallenged …… until now.

Reminds me of The Emperor’s New Clothes story. 😉
His claims are absolutely laughable.

The story is in all the newspapers and channels but am linking Wiki as whichever link is added, some people will ridicule it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Arday

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 09:32:23

How many people are, and have been using the racist card. At work and home.

Thousands I presume.

Galaxy Wed 05-Aug-26 09:33:11

Yes if ever the good law project defended me I would know I was in trouble.

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 09:34:16

He is going to be a poster boy the other way now.
Which I suspect wont bother him either.

MawsRosie Wed 05-Aug-26 09:34:17

Wyllow3

The bloke in the O/P seems to have some narcissistic tendencies if you ask me.

You mean Arday?
That is what this is all about- but does being a fantasist necessarily stem from narcissism?

Galaxy Wed 05-Aug-26 09:35:26

It is not just about racism, you do get fantasists everywhere ( I once was involved with a charity where we had 2 people falsely claiming to have the condition we provided support for). It is in my view the damage the identity politics narrative has done to people's faith in institutions.

Wyllow3 Wed 05-Aug-26 09:35:38

Used it and unmasked - look where its got him. Like I said, I think he is a manipulative man. *Using the anything "card" just does a disservice to and discredits those who have really been racially disadvantaged.

GrannyGravy13 Wed 05-Aug-26 09:36:28

He has definitely (in my opinion) enjoyed the adoration of being in the spotlight, youngest professor etc.,

Not sure he will enjoy it so much now the truths are being exposed.

Wyllow3 Wed 05-Aug-26 09:38:09

People in academia like any other field (the man who claimed war hero status) as I said just do others a disservice. He wont be the first person to try and shortcut the way to recognition

Wyllow3 Wed 05-Aug-26 09:39:35

GrannyGravy13

He has definitely (in my opinion) enjoyed the adoration of being in the spotlight, youngest professor etc.,

Not sure he will enjoy it so much now the truths are being exposed.

Falling from a height is no going to do him any favours is it in terms of his self worth and his worth in the eyes of others. Icarus comes to mind.

eazybee Wed 05-Aug-26 10:07:07

He certainly had a meteoric rise through University promotions, but equally spent very little time in each post, which usually indicates the only way to get rid of someone who comes highly recommended but proves to be a disappointment is s further promotion, elsewhere.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Aug-26 10:10:08

Plagiarism has always been a big issue in all universities - world wide.

Not sure why this has attracted so much attention.

What do posters think of the other instances and how they were dealt with?

MawsRosie Wed 05-Aug-26 10:15:07

Whitewavemark2

Plagiarism has always been a big issue in all universities - world wide.

Not sure why this has attracted so much attention.

What do posters think of the other instances and how they were dealt with?

Surely the extent in this case?
And the song and dance publicity he has courted along with the fantastical claims?
Then factor in the accusations of racism if anybody raised any queries- he was asking to be found out.
The higher they climb, the harder they fall !

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 10:16:08

Quite.
And very easily done.

Racism card - yes he has been using that. A lot it seems.

Fantasy or narcissism. Personally do not think they are the same think.

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 10:16:26

To Whitewave2 post

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 10:16:58

thing not think

Whitewavemark2 Wed 05-Aug-26 10:28:58

MawsRosie

Whitewavemark2

Plagiarism has always been a big issue in all universities - world wide.

Not sure why this has attracted so much attention.

What do posters think of the other instances and how they were dealt with?

Surely the extent in this case?
And the song and dance publicity he has courted along with the fantastical claims?
Then factor in the accusations of racism if anybody raised any queries- he was asking to be found out.
The higher they climb, the harder they fall !

Ah - I see.

Hands up those who were aware of his existence before this week, and yet suddenly everyone is an expert on Professor Jarday.

Such fun.

Wyllow3 Wed 05-Aug-26 10:30:50

*I think the O/P is maybe designed to make us consider one example because it is race relatedal though the case of the "war hero" was mentioned. It is intended to mock and demean.

And I always get suspicious of this "using the card" phrase - its used also for example in "use the Mental Health Card". they are both in my mind a pretty useless phrases.

Too widely applied, across too many cases. I think .... better to look at any case as an individual one,

Just as we did for the man who pretended to have been at Hiroshima.

What "card" was he playing, according to these "playing the card" "rules".

OK, to my mind, inadequate male card if you have to slap a label in, but what's the point?

Who has the right to label thus when all around are very complicated webs of self importance and the need to have it

what he did was clearly out of order. I see some mind problems in there: others may not. We've all been clear what we think of the actual actions. *but to bring the "cards" out, now thats just pejorative to me.

LemonJam Wed 05-Aug-26 10:42:20

Plagiarism is a widespread issue in higher education with self-reported surveys indicating that roughly 20% to 60% of university students admit to committing some form of plagiarism or academic dishonesty during their studies. Roughly 2.9% of professional academic researchers admit to instances of plagiarism.

Its notable that accusations of plagiarism in Arday's work were first voiced by Cofnas, a US researcher whose role at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash to his view that under a true meritocracy black people would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment

Cofnas claimed on Substack that he had put Arday's work through a plagiarism detection software, which found that "many passages are lifted with minimal editing, sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source”. Cofnas reproduced several tracts of Arday's PhD dissertation which he said the software had found to be copied verbatim or lightly rephrased from prior academic works by other authors.

It was Cofnas that went to the media to sell his story and claims a man whose believes all black people would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment

This controversy in the media has attracted a range of opinions, including within the academic community.
More than 12,000 people - including Green Party leader Zack Polanski, at least five Labour MPs and some Cambridge academics - have signed a petition set up by the Good Law Project supporting Arday. Kehinde Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, said Arday was the victim of a "smear campaign" that was "as predictable as it is baseless", while Alan Lester, a University of Sussex geography professor who specialises in colonialism, called it a “non-story".

Simon Baron-Cohen - a cognitive neuroscientist and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge - raised concerns about the impact the media coverage was having on Arday. We should of course always investigate plagiarism to protect academic standards. However, I cannot stand by and watch when an autistic man is on the ground and the kicking continues. This is relentless bullying of a vulnerable autistic man and raises safe-guarding issues. It's time to stop

My view as a result is to reserve personal judgement whilst the respective institutions investigate Cofnas claims of plagiarism against Arday.

fancythat Wed 05-Aug-26 10:52:59

The usual, look over there, someone else has done abc, biases of multiple persuasions, distract with something, belittle somethings, all coming out on this thread.

Shortly there will be arguments.
And deletions of some sort or another.

Primrose53 Wed 05-Aug-26 10:54:04

Wyllow3

*I think the O/P is maybe designed to make us consider one example because it is race relatedal though the case of the "war hero" was mentioned. It is intended to mock and demean.

And I always get suspicious of this "using the card" phrase - its used also for example in "use the Mental Health Card". they are both in my mind a pretty useless phrases.

Too widely applied, across too many cases. I think .... better to look at any case as an individual one,

Just as we did for the man who pretended to have been at Hiroshima.

What "card" was he playing, according to these "playing the card" "rules".

OK, to my mind, inadequate male card if you have to slap a label in, but what's the point?

Who has the right to label thus when all around are very complicated webs of self importance and the need to have it

what he did was clearly out of order. I see some mind problems in there: others may not. We've all been clear what we think of the actual actions. *but to bring the "cards" out, now thats just pejorative to me.

Since I was the OP I take offence at what you are saying about my post. I gave plenty of other examples of fraudsters like Arday and I never once mentioned “playing the race card”. AN apology would be nice!

Arday’s claims are getting worse by the day as more and more people unearth old footage etc. He really did think he was untouchable. I know he’s NOT in the same category as the vile Jimmy Savile but he became a national treasure and thought he was untouchable too.

Galaxy Wed 05-Aug-26 10:58:51

It isn't actually the man himself who is the problem, it is those who accepted the claims.
I have been made aware of 2 people who lost jobs to Arday, I would also be very interested as to what happened to any whistleblowers who tried to question the claims, this isn't victimless.

LemonJam Wed 05-Aug-26 11:05:48

Galaxy

It isn't actually the man himself who is the problem, it is those who accepted the claims.
I have been made aware of 2 people who lost jobs to Arday, I would also be very interested as to what happened to any whistleblowers who tried to question the claims, this isn't victimless.

But we do know about the person who made the accusations of plagiarism in Arday's work. That person is called Cofnas, a US researcher. His job at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash to his view that under a true meritocracy black people would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.

He was thus dismissed because of his anti black people beliefs- not because of making claims of plagiarism against Arday. Cofnas is accountable for his own actions as is Arday, as are we all.

Wyllow3 Wed 05-Aug-26 11:13:29

I don't consider my post offensive, but I am open to you reporting it Primrose. (Truly).

If we read what Lemonjam is reporting and the still needed disintangements, then there is a "lot more to the story"

M0nica Wed 05-Aug-26 11:20:42

There is a case reported in the papers today about a man who falsely claimed an Oxford degree to obtain a string of senior posts in the NHS.Not only that he claimed so much sick leave, in some of the jobs he was off sick more days than he worked.I deduce these were mainly fixed time contract jobs.

I do not understand why employers are not asking to see original certificates and talking to past employers.

When I was working back in the 1980s and 90s, It was the norm to ask for a sight of any certificates and on at least one occasion, my new employer contacted my current employer to check the information on my current role was correct.

On one occasion - and this was a university, I was asked for transcripts of my degrees - what subjects my degree included and what were my marks.

At various times I was contacted by potential employers of my own present or past staff, wanting to confirm information they had given.

Galaxy Wed 05-Aug-26 11:22:35

There are three universities disputing claims Arday is making in his online profile and the charity wateraid is also questioning claims he made.