British leftists have attempted to blame racism and media scrutiny for the untimely death of former Cambridge professor Jason Arday, who sensationally resigned last week amid plagiarism allegations and accusations of fabricating his backstory.
On Friday afternoon, Cambridge’s youngest-ever Black professor, Jason Arday, was found dead at a London address at the age of 41, just days after resigning from his post as professor of sociology of education amid swirling controversy and claims that he had engaged in plagiarism.
According to a Substack article last month from University of Ghent philosopher Nathan Cofnas, who was fired from Cambridge’s Emmanuel College in 2024 after expressing race-realist views on IQ differences, Arday’s thesis had been flagged by plagiarism-detection software.
It then emerged that Cambridge had been alerted to potential plagiarism in his thesis and in other papers by Plymouth Marjon University Emeritus Professor Dave Harris in 2023, yet the university only launched an investigation into the matter earlier this month.
London’s Daily Telegraph reported that it had “identified more than 100 passages that are identical or nearly identical to a 2009 PhD thesis by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers, a Brunel University student.”
On top of allegations of plagiarism, questions were also raised over Arday’s supposedly remarkable early life, as he claimed to have risen to the top of academia despite allegedly being unable to talk until the age of 11 and being unable to read or write until he was 18 as a supposed result of autism. Arday also previously boasted of having run 30 marathons in 35 days, partly while suffering from a leg fracture.
Amid the controversy, the previous media darling resigned on August 5th, claiming that the “relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”
Less than ten days later, he was found dead. A spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday that his “death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious.” The left-wing Guardian newspaper reported that the force is “understood not to believe anyone else was involved in the death.”
Despite limited information about the circumstances of his death, prominent left-wing figures were quick to blame the media scrutiny and “racism” for Arday’s death. For example, far-left Labour MP Nadia Whittome said that Arday was “hounded by the British press in a way that went far beyond scrutiny, was disproportionate, and simply would not have happened to a white, middle class person in the same position.”
This opinion was widely shared among the broader left, including by National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede, who said on Saturday that Arday had been the target of “a public and brutal takedown that unleashed a tirade of racism”.
“The effect has been chilling. It tells black people and others from underrepresented backgrounds that entering prominent public positions will make you a target,” he said.
Leftist activist and author of This Is Why I Resist: Don’t Define My Black Identity, Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu said that those involved in scrutinising Arday were “murderers”.
“This is exactly what you wanted to achieve. I told you; I knew you wanted to kill him or get him killed. I hope you are all satisfied now, every single one of you bloody, evil racists, you white supremacists, waste of human freaking space. Those of you that jumped on this bandwagon to publicly execute him, for what? Who held him to a different standard than you hold white people. May you all get exactly what you deserve,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in a statement: “Jason Arday was the victim of a pernicious public shaming that other people in his position simply wouldn’t have faced. His death was a tragedy, but once again it should be a wake up call for all of us.”
For his part, Prime Minister Andy Burnham remarked that Arday’s death was “a tragedy on so many levels”. The recently installed leader said that it was not the time for “rushing to judgement” but rather a “moment for reflection”.
Others pushed back on the narrative that critics were responsible for Arday’s death. Professor Matt Goodwin said: “White people are not to blame for Jason Arday’s death. Right-wing people are not to blame. The media is not to blame. What started this is a Diversity, Equality & Inclusion regime that put somebody in a role he was not qualified to fulfil — and did so simply because of his race.”
Editor of Spiked, Tom Slater, said that the media and fellow academics were forced to scrutinise Arday because Cambridge University had failed to do so in the first place.
“They chose to believe Arday’s story, because it furnished their worldview and lent them some pious PR. They rebuffed the allegations, until it was impossible to do so (Arday’s resignation came within hours of Cambridge finally announcing an investigation into his record). They put him on a pedestal, from which he was always going to be knocked off. Not because he was black, but because he was a fraudster and a fantasist, elevated by an academic system that has come to reward dazzling tales of victimhood, even outright lies,” Slater wrote, adding: “I won’t say Cambridge has blood on its hands, but it does have a lot to answer for.”