The Jason Arday scandal

I am the mother of a student who did not apply to Cambridge for a MPhil this year precisely because after we had examined the curriculum and attended the open days we were flabbergasted by the woke nonsense being peddled. This was a newly revised MPhil (so the first cohort will be 2026/27). And my DD was not the only one she knew who had that reaction. So I suspect that the Jason Arday affair will have repercussions.

Sibling

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I just saw what that other guy said about him. Why didn't he call the police on him then? Or did he?

This is a good point which has been raised several times in the public discourse. While I think it has validity (because there is certainly racism creep and so many people now feel justified re their scepticism of experts and DEI), I think most of the current attention is because he has been feted for so long publicly and had so many media appearances as a consequence.

He is a public figure in the way these other academics aren't.

The UK has been Americanized

I think there's a real problem here that one of the people who vocally raised questions about him plagiarising is an actual, outspoken racist.

So people automatically moved to defend him against the racist. This sets things into two sides: people who accuse him of plagiarism = the baddies (who must be racist, because they're on the side of the baddies) and people who defend him against the accusation = the goodies.

Except unfortunately for the goodies, in this case the person the racist was picking on is so ludicrously unsuited to the position he has been promoted to, and such a liar, that the goodies look completely stupid. And if you're coming to the story late and just hearing about the bloke who claimed to run multiple marathons on a broken leg and aren't starting from the point of a racist picking on this guy, it really makes you wonder wtf the goodies were thinking to ever defend him.

You suggested you felt sorry for him. I think not only was he the architechture of his own destruction, but he is almost certainly a very nasty person and not worthy of pity.

It doesn't mean people should be racist or aggressive towards him- there was a comment on Reddit which said "when you try to alter the natural order of things, then trouble follows necessarily sooner or later" which I think crossed the line for me.

If Cambridge appointed this man without doing their due diligence investigating his credentials, it is probably because they saw his value to them as lying in something other than his credentials. There's an abundance of talented black academics in the world, so there was no reason why they needed to hire this guy in particular to improve their diversity score.

If one takes his story at face value, he's a rock star, someone destined to be a media darling, with his dreadlocks and his approachable good looks, his relative youthfulness and his zero-to-hero narrative.

I don’t feel sorry for him at all. I think he is someone who wouldn’t think twice about destroying you for questioning his integrity or work, he has trampled on the prospects of some of his students by not bothering to supervise them and being pretty non existent to a point that they have received lower grades for his subject (the uni will almost certainly have some appeals on this I should imagine). He lied to obtain jobs which could and should have gone to much much more deserving candidates.

To be honest - I don’t think you could sink any lower. He deserves all of this back lash. If he actually owned up to at least some of this I might have a smidge of sympathy for him- but as his resignation (AI generated) letter makes clear - he has absolutely no sense of doing anything wrong and is not in the least bit contrite.

“It’s not racist to have noticed this”

Not saying Arday is innocent but have media noticed any other plagiarists though?

spectator.com/article/how-common-is-academic-plagiarism-in-britain/

@kwikfitt "Hes done right by resigning and ive no doubt he was targeted due to racism."

Let's take myself as an example of an ordinary, middle-aged, white male. Do I get triggered when I see a black person more successful than I am? No. Do I admire successful black people? Yes, and I could name examples. Do I look at the achievements first and ethnicity second? Yes.

Do I want to see Jason Arday victimised? No. Am I utterly dumbfounded at what appears to be complete and utter fantasy regarding his life and achievements, and the credulous fools taken in by it? You're damn right I am. And I cannot think of a single way Prof Arday's presence benefits people of colour.

I suppose that’s also lots of small problems combined.

I think what I am referring to most is the zeitgeist around this; not even the event(s) leading to this but the reactions after. Thats what is most fascinating to me.

Our inability to have a straight conversation about a non white person without someone shouting racist. That’s actually hilarious and ironically racist.

The societal navel gazing vs the blunt statements. The simmering culture wars/ political wars/ ideological posturing.

Honestly it’s been hilarious. British discourse feels like a skit now and it’s all very meta. We are like a middle aged man who had a mid life crisis of conscience after making his fortunes and went to Bali to find himself, crossing paths with a working class builder on a stag do. Ones trying to find the meaning of life, the others making a brash passing comment as they stumble to the next bar and then there’s a collection of street preachers screeching in the background. ‘Sinnner, your going to hell’ and ‘Racistttt, racccissstttt’ 😂

No idea where this metaphor has come from but that’s what I feel it’s like right now. And we have lost our sense of humour. Everyone used to have that in common.

Yes. Anyone falsely claiming racism and contacting the police to intimidate, then instructing a defamation law firm to threaten is not a nice person and should have zero sympathy from anyone.

I didn't say he wasn't an arsehole.

It's noteworthy that he presents as a bit hapless and lays on thick the descriptions of the adjustments and assistance he has required - but didn't seem to need any help in immediately setting the police and a top legal firm on the journalists who were investigating his story.

The way he was still referencing his childhood in his actual resignation letter also spoke volumes.

Lots of people accepted it
Its possible he did have language problrms and maybe he was selectivley mute at time
But to go from completely non verbal at 11 to becoming a professor at cambridge would be incredible.

I don't even think he's that clever, tbh. He really didn't have to try very hard. He was ushered into spaces into which he simply wouldn't have got through merit.

I mean he claimed he was on Seven Up despite being a couple of decades too young...
He makes Jack Monroe look honest.

And of course Polanski is defending him. Lost. The. Plot.

What? He's lies are OUTRAEGOUS. And definitely not targeted due to racism. On the contrary, a student who complained about his non-existent supervision was accused of racism!
Is this a joke post to annoy people?

I think the Guardian was leading on this.

I was wondering this too. Did he go to school ? There’s something very off about the whole childhood narrative.

If you have no desire to engage with anything BBC-wise, why bother referring to them in the first place on a topic that has ostensibly nothing to do with the BBC - other than the fact they are one of many thousands of media outlets reporting on the story?

I'm assuming it was to squeeze in a bit of BBC-bashing. Not wishing to derail the thread but if you want evidence of media outlets that actively do have an agenda in reporting on the Jason Arday story, just take a look at how the right-wing press (e.g. the Daily Mail and Telegraph) are lapping this up in their coverage.

I don’t understand how someone so high profile got away with claiming to be non verbal. Surely someone knew him at a school?

He called the police on someone for asking questions about his thesis.

He is a problem.