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Arday had resigned from his post as professor of sociology at the University of Cambridge in early August over the scandal and the public scrutiny mounting against him.
list 1 of 4Cambridge professor Jason Arday quits amid plagiarism allegations.
list 2 of 4UK PM Burnham reacts to death of former Cambridge professor.
list 3 of 4Thousands mourn ex-Cambridge professor, blame ‘racist’ press for his death.
list 4 of 4Jason Arday, former Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism, found dead.
Researcher Nathan Cofnas – a self-defined “race realist” who was himself sacked from his job at Cambridge in 2024 over his views on race – posted on X on Thursday: “I was just suspended by Ghent University.
Without naming Cofnas, the University of Ghent said in a statement that it had launched a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” against a postdoctoral researcher embroiled in the Arday case.
Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest-ever Black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead on Friday aged 41. He was facing numerous accusations of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis and exaggerating some of his personal life achievements.
Diagnosed with autism and other developmental difficulties as a child, Arday had always disputed the allegations against him.
But Arday quit his job on August 5, writing in his resignation letter that he had “reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure”.
Plagiarism concerns surrounding Arday first surfaced several years ago, but went nowhere at the time, with one reporter backing down from investigating further after the professor threatened legal action.
Last month, however, Cofnas came forward to say he had found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor’s work – and the case snowballed, receiving widespread media coverage in the United Kingdom and the United States.
British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, claiming Arday had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
An outspoken critic of DEI, Cofnas argues intelligence differs between racial groups and wrote that in a true meritocracy, top universities like Harvard or Cambridge would hardly have Black professors.
The former Cambridge University professor’s death led to anti-racist rallies in London and other cities, as tens of thousands mourned for Arday and blamed the media scrutiny piled on him.
Ghent University said it was now “assessing” whether there were sufficient grounds to launch full disciplinary proceedings in the case and that it is taking recent statements regarding this matter “very seriously”.
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Informação baseada em material público de Al Jazeera, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
