Jason Arday found dead today.

Even newsthump has given an opinion

I haven’t asked you to verify anything other than which Professor William Reilly you are referring to.

Certainly not “every single thing” about your posts.

I thought it was a simple ask to avoid confusion It seems to have turned into some kind of accusation against me.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/15/jason-arday-tributes-paid-to-former-cambridge-professor

Above is a link to the Guardian's report today, I hope it is possible to follow the link (I subscribe to the Guardian).

JaneJudge

It has made me feel sad.

Me too.

I would hope "lessons will be learnt".
We shall see.
Too late now for the man and his family.

Why not look the name up Aldom before posting. More respectful.
I hope this case is thoroughly investigated, the person that reported Jason in the first place, the University who appointed him, the newspapers and media. I formed an entirely different view of Jason by the coverage yet he was a sensitive and gentle person. He must have felt victimised and hounded to his death.
R.I.P.Jason

Lathyrus3

I haven’t asked you to verify anything other than which Professor William Reilly you are referring to.

Certainly not “every single thing” about your posts.

I thought it was a simple ask to avoid confusion It seems to have turned into some kind of accusation against me.

It was to Oreo I posted the 'every single thing comment' not you Laythyrus- and I responded to Oreo directly.

I made clear to you several times that from my first post I am referring to Dr William O'Reilly, found guilty of plagiarism, as reported by the Guardian and Cambridge Varsity newspapers in the year specified, who was a don with student welfare responsibility. Thats quite a few specific, distinguishing features. I simply am not aware of any other Dr William O'Reilly at Cambridge University in all these circusmtances- are you? It's plainly impossible for me to refer to Professor William Reilly as you call him, when I know nothing about that person's existence 🤷‍♀️

It would be a huge, unlikely coincidence if another Dr William O'Reilly, at the same university, at the same time, with the same responsibility for student welfare was also accused of plagiarism, that was similarly upheld, and similarly reported by Varsity and Guardian at the same time. I do not believe that there are any grounds there was any risk of mistaken identity in any of my posts.

I do not know Cambridge University Dr William O'Reilly's middle name and neither did the Varsity or Guardian newspapers in their articles refer to him using a middle name for him. Perhaps you should ask the Varsity and the Guardian to verify which Dr William O'Reilly their articles referred to as I my posts rely on their respective reporting 😊

Goodness gracious- good job I am patient and have got a sense of humour!

I always feel shock when someone in the media takes their own life. ‘Well anyone for that matter’.
Caroline Flack, for instance! I mean Covid hit just after so all the media would have forgotten about it. So tragic.
The pressures these people must be under, especially in the media spotlight.

foxie48

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/15/jason-arday-tributes-paid-to-former-cambridge-professor

Above is a link to the Guardian's report today, I hope it is possible to follow the link (I subscribe to the Guardian).

Top article - says what's needed and stays with the grieving. (I do too but it should be accessible?)

MT62

I always feel shock when someone in the media takes their own life. ‘Well anyone for that matter’.
Caroline Flack, for instance! I mean Covid hit just after so all the media would have forgotten about it. So tragic.
The pressures these people must be under, especially in the media spotlight.

They have to "keep up a public front", so much, don't they?

Thank you Wyllow3 - indeed says what needs to be said. 👍

I made a mistake when I mistyped Reilly instead of O’Reilky.
Sometimes my finger is not firm enough on the pad.

I don’t find it hard to own up to an error.

See it’s happened again.

I hope you can work out the name I mean this time.

The Guardian was where I read most of the allegations about arday.

sf101

If his outlandish claims and dubious academic qualifications had been questioned earlier, he might still be an anonymous PE teacher and alive.
Shame on all those so called intelligent people for using him to promote their DEI agenda.
It seems the more he lied the higher they pushed him without a thought of what it might do to him when the truth came out.

Late getting to reply but this post from sf101 pretty much sums up how I feel about this tragedy which all of us are very sad about.

However, his fantastical claims alongside his alleged plagiarism really are down to him. Did anybody else write his CV? Basically he got his job by deception.

Questions should have been asked long ago and I am surprised that it went on for so long unquestioned as the stories became more and more bizarre. It is perfectly right that way down the road journalists started asking questions. Scrutiny is not racism neither is asking questions.

Maybe his conscience finally got the better of him. All very sad.

The question as far as I see it is whether it is morally right that an academic, unknown to the general population, is publicly pilloried in the way he was. It’s one thing to be accountable for your actions and to live with the consequences, but another to be splashed all over the headlines and publicly shamed so that you lose your future, not just your job and reputation in your own field.

Haven't had time yet to read all your posts, sorry, but a quick skim gives me that two Cambridge Lecturers have been named as having accusations of plagiarism.
Both investigated by the University.
But only one has made it to MSM and GN and endured subsequent hostile 'publicity'.
Wonder why one made the headlines but not the other?

Maremia

Haven't had time yet to read all your posts, sorry, but a quick skim gives me that two Cambridge Lecturers have been named as having accusations of plagiarism.
Both investigated by the University.
But only one has made it to MSM and GN and endured subsequent hostile 'publicity'.
Wonder why one made the headlines but not the other?

I haven’t read all the posts on here and do not know about these two lecturers at Cambridge.

Could it be that they are being investigated for plagiarism alone? JA was coming out with such unbelievable claims in huge numbers that they had to be investigated by journalists.

The original Jason Professor Jason Arday - plagiarism - was, in my opinion, a deliberate choice to single out a black professor for plagiarism out of so many others who have done this over a long period of time, and was chosen because it was a DEI appointment.

I cannot recall on any previous thread whatsoever in the 3 years I have been on Gransnet where the O/P set out to discuss a University Professor's appointment and downfall and so many pejorative and mocking terms like "poster boy followed.

In this thread we have seen that Jason was not the only academic who has previously done this, and that there were clearly people who set out viciously to get him like Nathan Cofnas.

Who set out to bring him down when in fact all allegations had not been properly investigated.

There is a veiled racism and attacks on DEI per se in that original thread.

Calling it out, for what it is. It he had been white, I frankly doubt it woul have appeared in N and P in Gransnet.

Clarity for the first sentence, apologies:

"The original Professor Jason Arday - plagiarism thread

- was, in my opinion, a deliberate choice to single out a black professor for plagiarism out of so many other academics who have done this over a long period of time, and was chosen as a subject because it was a DEI appointment.

Was that the Guardians motive as well?

Wyllow3

Clarity for the first sentence, apologies:

"The original Professor Jason Arday - plagiarism thread

- was, in my opinion, a deliberate choice to single out a black professor for plagiarism out of so many other academics who have done this over a long period of time, and was chosen as a subject because it was a DEI appointment.

Since I started THAT thread I can categorically inform you that it most definitely was NOT a “deliberate choice to single out a black professor.”

I did not use the word “black” in my post, I did not refer to his ethnicity and I made it clear that this was being reported in most of the papers and on TV and the link I provided was from Wiki.

Well, the thread was probably started because it was in the news?
Is that a possibility?

*“There is a profound difference between scrutiny and a sustained public campaign that turns an individual into a symbol of everything the right believes is wrong with DEI.

Important sentence from the Guardian article linked above.

Well we all have our opinions Wyllow3 and in mine it wasn’t a deliberate choice to single out a black professor by The Guardian but to single out a professor at Cambridge who had made a lot of outlandish claims as well as accusations of plagiarism.
It had been investigated over the last couple of years and only come to public attention recently.
In his book, Great And Unfortunate Things he says many things and his publishers are keen to go ahead with it, I predict it will sell well.His recent suicide is very sad and tragic for his family.Cambridge University has a lot to answer for and I bet they are rushing right now to cover themselves.You’ll hear a lot about how lessons will be learned, they will review how panels appoint and so on.
It will be utter balderdash.