Jason Arday found dead today.

25Avalon

Yes racism did kill him in that he was promoted to a professorship at Cambridge because he was black and not because of his qualifications. A reverse racism.

No the racism that promotes eugenics and scientific racism.

Yes racism did kill him in that he was promoted to a professorship at Cambridge because he was black and not because of his qualifications. A reverse racism.

No the racism is what killed him. Never let that slip from your thoughts.

Whitewavemark2

Galaxy

The Guardian were very thorough in their investigation of ardys claims of harassment. They contacted the butcher to analyse the claims about the pigs head.

They may or may not have been as thorough as you claim, because you have no idea what was not investigated, nor whether it is all true.

What is missing from the piece I read was any research into Nathan Cofnas, his belief in scientific racism and eugenics.

That needs to be understood in order to give balance to his claims about black academics and plagiarism.

WWM2- exactly- it was not balanced journalism- no even handedness or parity to both parties. Arday was let down by poor journalism such that the vitriol fell disproportionately on him compared to other players in this sad affair. The journalists published words of Arday responding to them demonstrated how vulnerable he was but that didn't bother them.

Just compare how Arday was hounded but not Dr William O'Reillyalso at Cambridge University. A white don actually found guilty of plagiarism publishing and getting paid for passing off his students work as his own. Compare the 210 letters of complaint about him of far more serious concern than were attributed to Arday- his privacy protected and journalistic pile on missing and reported very differently.

The Guardian was one of the more balanced reporting newspapers but - The Telegraph, Times and Daily Mail far worse and have faced the biggest backlash- see yesterday's 23.10 post.

The Times published a pre prepared obituary minutes after Arday's death and had to disable its online comments due to the volume of public anger

Don’t forget his autism. Maybe he actually believed what he said. Also he didn’t get where he was all by himself. How many get the qualifications he did going from a BTec to a professorship? He convinced (fooled?)a lot of people and institutions on the way. Was he looked at as an individual with autism and black?I don’t think so. His individuality seems to have been ignored. This neurodiversity was imo a contributory factor in his death. Too many comments and arguments about racism on here, miss seeing the man. For whatever faults he had he was a victim of circumstances which in the end he could not cope with. May he be at peace but so sad help wasn’t there for him when he needed it.

It would be very shocking if all that has been revealed dud the make an iota of difference.

Lathyrus3

Whitewavemark2

Aveline

Very much a side issue but a young member of my family achieved 4A*s and so got into Cambridge this week. A very clever girl. Sadly, now people just laugh and say, 'Anyone can get into Cambridge these days'.

Treat such comments with disdain.

Not to be so blithely dismissed.

Im afraid a Cambridge degree has been much devalued by these revelations. The whole process of appointment and quality assurance of delivery. The dismissal of concerns and questions raised.

The doubts now about Cambridge are about the whole institution and whether students there are receiving something special in the education- the assumption has been shattered.

I’m not sure employers will regard a Cambridge degree as a plus for many years to come.

It would be interesting to how Clearing has fared over the past week.

Rubbish.

Next years students will not even remember the case.

Cambridges reputation is much stronger than you suggest.

Look at all the research that comes out of it - world wide respect.

This won’t make an iota of difference.

Galaxy

I think it depends whether you think truth is important, or whether highlighting what journalists are faced with ( legal action and misuse of the police) is important.

The truth is very important and should be applied to all in the same way.

Sadly Arday was treated differently, his accuser was treated differently also- more favourably. Truth and equality matter.

Well I would have thought it might be useful to listen to the samaritans on suicide but presumably not.

Aveline

I think it would have come out somehow. I gather his students were not happy with him. They have lost out as have the other applicants for his job. His family has suffered too.

What were the students unhappy about after journalists sought them out to discredit Arday? What would have come out eventually?

You will find very many more students who were not happy with Cafnas at Cambridge University and don't have to look very far to find them. Cafnas lost a court case against the university and the students and faculty were very unhappy with Cafnas on a much larger scale than Arday and for serious reasons.

Whitewavemark2

Aveline

Very much a side issue but a young member of my family achieved 4A*s and so got into Cambridge this week. A very clever girl. Sadly, now people just laugh and say, 'Anyone can get into Cambridge these days'.

Treat such comments with disdain.

Not to be so blithely dismissed.

Im afraid a Cambridge degree has been much devalued by these revelations. The whole process of appointment and quality assurance of delivery. The dismissal of concerns and questions raised.

The doubts now about Cambridge are about the whole institution and whether students there are receiving something special in the education- the assumption has been shattered.

I’m not sure employers will regard a Cambridge degree as a plus for many years to come.

It would be interesting to how Clearing has fared over the past week.

Maremia

The 'lot more than plagierism' became apparent AFTER the eugenics theorist Nathan Cofnas amplified the situation.
Then The Telegraph.
Should we now praise a sacked race theory pundit for bringing this story to us?

Exactly- why did the journalists not similarly dig around for Nathan Cafnas back story- lots to find.

Primrose53

Apologies to Lemonjam. I had replied to Wyllow’s post.

sorry just seen this- cross posts.... apology accepted.

Primrose53

LemonJam

Original 4/8/26 Gransnet post;

"Professor Jason Arday- plagiarism etc-

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

Not quite sure why you posted this because I had already replied to you and refuted your claims that this thread was started to single out a black professor. Anybody reading this thread will see that but you seem to keep wanting to rake over it for reasons known only to yourself.

In case you still don’t get it, as I said VERY clearly in my reply to you - I did not mention the word “black” and I did not mention JA’s ethnicity. I also explained that this news was absolutely everywhere in the media.

It was Willow you replied to at 22.46 last night not me

Galaxy

The attempted publication by the journalist was prior to cofnas substack publication though? There were people trying to raise the alarm. Again if that had happened it wouldn't have been down to Cofnas, another failure. In fact I have concerns about the journalists or interviewers who didnt pick up the glaring contradictions, etc.

It was the journalists who had heard all the claims from jayson who contacted Jack Grove.
I would imagine tgey contacted him as he is a respected journalist at The Times Higher Education.

Here he is explaining. His part of the interview is 3 mins into the Video.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Di2vhzXCiI

petra

Maremia

Two Cambridge Professors
The same accusation
Both investigated by the University
One ignored
One hounded
Why was he selected for the vilification?

why was he selected for vilification
I think it all came down to that phone call Jayson made to the MET. Journalists decided that one of their own had been attacked. So the pack came together to protect that journalist.

He was feeling vulnerable and rightly or wrongly contacted the police thinking that might help- so the pack came together in support of the journalist to press Arday more- how very sad. .

The samaritans have very clear guidelines against attributing suicide to a specific cause

The poor man must have felt there was only one way out.

Does it really matter what the guidelines are? How many other people feel this way or close to this ? It's beyond sad.

Galaxy

I can only report what the guardian stated. It isnt controversial, it's just talking about what the guardian published. I can dig out the link if you want. I couldn't really work out whether I felt it was good journalism or quite bizarre.

It certainly was not bizarre. But it needed much more balance.

I expect this from the Guardian, not so much the Telegraph etc

Aveline

Very much a side issue but a young member of my family achieved 4A*s and so got into Cambridge this week. A very clever girl. Sadly, now people just laugh and say, 'Anyone can get into Cambridge these days'.

Treat such comments with disdain.

I can only report what the guardian stated. It isnt controversial, it's just talking about what the guardian published. I can dig out the link if you want. I couldn't really work out whether I felt it was good journalism or quite bizarre.

Very much a side issue but a young member of my family achieved 4A*s and so got into Cambridge this week. A very clever girl. Sadly, now people just laugh and say, 'Anyone can get into Cambridge these days'.

Galaxy

The Guardian were very thorough in their investigation of ardys claims of harassment. They contacted the butcher to analyse the claims about the pigs head.

They may or may not have been as thorough as you claim, because you have no idea what was not investigated, nor whether it is all true.

What is missing from the piece I read was any research into Nathan Cofnas, his belief in scientific racism and eugenics.

That needs to be understood in order to give balance to his claims about black academics and plagiarism.

The attempted publication by the journalist was prior to cofnas substack publication though? There were people trying to raise the alarm. Again if that had happened it wouldn't have been down to Cofnas, another failure. In fact I have concerns about the journalists or interviewers who didnt pick up the glaring contradictions, etc.

No you have been mislead.

Cofnas first raised the issue in 2024.

The Guardian were very thorough in their investigation of ardys claims of harassment. They contacted the butcher to analyse the claims about the pigs head.