The Jason Arday scandal

Absofuckinglutely spot on.

I agree it's obvious why Cofnas chose to target him. But the thing is that Cofnas wasn't the first person to raise concerns, he was just the first person willing to try to bring public attention to them. Apart from some other academics in his field there was also a THE journalist who was silenced by not just having the notoriously aggressive law firm Carter Ruck set on him but also the police (for me this is the worst part of the whole thing tbh)

So other people were aware but weren't prepared to risk the consequences of coming forward. And honest question - would you? Because no way would I risk my career, not to mention the likelihood of being dragged through the mud as a racist, in this situation.

Also to note, I work with people doing research at Cambridge and let's just say, none of this has come as a surprise to people, there have been rumours about his lack of ability and credentials for a long time. But most people put their livelihood first

Good point, i agree

Which is the same for anyone who ends up in front of an Academic Misconduct Panel, or are you saying he shouldn't be treated the same as anyone else?

Absolutely - it was very much a case of "he's a Black person being picked on, which must be because he's Black, we must defend him!"

Names on that letter of support have been quietly disappearing as the actual truth becomes obvious.

Oh come on, people held off criticising him precisely because he's black
He got the job over far better qualified candidates- wonder why?
And you disingenuously assert that the questioning of his position now is racism- just to demonstrate what a good person you.
The stigma of being called racist simply for holding black people to the same standards as white people needs to go- and you need to stop perpetuating it- I'm hoping this saga helps that- it's no good for white or black people.
My friend (mixed race) got a job in 2021- in the wake of BLM- she was mortified by the molly-coddling she received due to her colour- she felt embarrassed rather than took advantage because she has self-respect, but I can understand why a young Mr Arday enjoyed the smoke blown up his arse- heck, even believed it, no doubt.

I do wonder whether to constant ‘check your own privilege, bruh’ mantra of the last decade has created a culture, generally, of people being unwilling to risk livelihoods and reputations. Often, the ones speaking out - across all professions - are the ones who are at the end of careers so have less to risk (otherwise they fear being a Glinner or that guy who was kicked off the cast of Hadestown for agreeing that women’s sport should be for bio women earlier this week); or are the JKRs with unlimited resources.

I think he was probably treated a lot worse that if he was an old white bloke. Which of us, if every tiny nuance of our academic, professional and online life wouldn’t be found wanting. The right wing press won’t stop until they have found something to fit their hypothesis.

Ad a ND person he probably can repeat large swathes of text and this got mixed up with his own thoughts. This happens in cases of music plagiarism all the time: bands don’t realise that the tune they thought was original was someone else’s.

I feel sorry for him. But I know that when they’re out to get you and discredit you, you have to call it a day.

The RW press are making out he’s a
fake employed by Cambridge due to woke agenda. but he has three degrees from good unis and worked at Durham . He’s not some snake oil salesman, go to the world of schools and academy chains if you want to
see them in action. Trust me!

apologies for any errors, dyslexia and bright sunshine to blame!

He's a fraud and its a disgrace that Cambridge hired him. Like the TRA's he used the police to silence fair investigations and shut down anyone having the nerve to ask questions.

I'm saying the process is flawed. Just as many academics are now saying, independent review is necessary in any situation like this.

LJM didn't say he didn't plagiarise, they just said he didn't do it enough for it to be a problem, but should that actually their call to make? 🤔

Perhaps going forwards it won't be any more.

Don't let's be silly! We all know the difference between real sciences and 'social sciences'. Cambridge reputation is intact as far as real sciences are concerned, and that is what Cambridge is all about.

People wouldn’t have heard so much about it if he was an old white bloke. Probably wouldn’t be frothing about it on here anyway.

Targeted because of racism? What? He fabricated his CV and took the job that others who actually had the qualifications should have been offered. WOW.

'I think he was probably treated a lot worse that if he was an old white bloke'

He was allowed to get away with it for so long because he wasn't an old white bloke!

How can anyone be illiterate at 18 after getting 2 gcses, how can anyone run a marathon a day? How on earth did he get those degrees I bet there's some frantic checking going on.

He absolutely took the piss and for every black and/or autistic person out there he should be apologising.

Must say I’m sparing just a thought this morning for Professor Hilary Cremin, head of the faculty of education at Cambridge, who is reported on the front page of today’s Times - and I dare say in other papers - as having told Jason Arday, ‘We are so lucky to have you. You are the best in the world in terms of the research that you do.’ 😮

"People wouldn’t have heard so much about it if he was an old white bloke. Probably wouldn’t be frothing about it on here anyway."

The old white bloke wouldn't have got the job in the first place - have you missed the point entirely? Or are you pretending?

edited to add that if said old bloke wore a dress and called himself Susan he may well have got the job- and we'd be "frothing" (god I hate that word) while noble folks like you fawned all over she/her

Yes let's just blame the right wing and the Daily Mail. There's that "frothing" word again. People are not going to not talk about it because it causes you discomfort. It's being discussed because of the scale of his deception and the environment which facilitated it.

Oh how embarrassing.

What research did he do out of interest or was that made up too?

Post of the thread 😆 🤣 😂 😹

@GeneBelcher have you edited out your best bit? 😆

It's not just the right wing press, the Guardian running a big piece on it was a critical turning point last week.

Three degrees from good unis? He claims to have had the reading ability of a 3 year old whilst doing his undergrad, that he needs to use "mimicry" because of his autism, is accused of having plundered quotes from other people's research and pretend they were quotes from interviews with subjects he had conducted himself, and frankly - if you've seen any interview footage of him at all, I'd be disappointed in his intellect if I met him at a sixth form parents evening and realised he was responsible for teaching my children.

I have a question: does the fact that he resigned mean that Cambridge's internal investigation into his qualifications and incidents of academic misconduct ceases?

Does anyone have insight to their processes?

Wondering whether they encouraged him to resign to avoid exposing the detail of their failings. Least said/soonest mended etc...

Cambridge is not the only university that needs to look hard at itself here.

I am astounded at the conclusions drawn by LJMU when investigating the allegations of plagiarism in his thesis written under its supervision.

In my uni the academic misconduct policy is clear that intent is not investigated, only the results. If a student has lifted work unacknowledged, that constitutes plagiarism. Whether or not it was deliberate or ‘accidental’ is irrelevant. His PhD should be revoked.

I did- I lost confidence then re-instated- sorry about that and thanks for the appreciation!!
too used to questioning everything I know to be true or funny when I'm on here