To compare and contrast coverage and outcome of the Jason Arday scandal with that of Cambridge plagiarist William O'Reilly

[OneArtfulUmberSquid]

Partly due to being an academic, the slow news season and the sensationalism, like many people I've been following the Jason Arday story and have been appalled by the scale of the fabulation and the abysmal lack of due diligence by Cambridge when they appointed him - I've also been appalled by how he was presented by the University when he was hired in terms of the emphasis on his back story and what he represented rather than his scholarship.

It's interesting to compare/contrast with the case of William O'Reilly - who was caught plagiarising his own undergrad students' essays and was then found to have plagiarised other scholars' work a number of times before...see https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/27433

He also threatened to sue student journalists for exposing him - not as bad as Arday calling the police, but still pretty risible
https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/26105

A further issue relates to his witness for the accused in a rape case despite being involved in the investigation.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/22/cambridge-university-sexual-misconduct-cases
https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/18747

I'd be interested to know what anyone else thinks of the two cases in terms of academic misconduct and outcomes, particularly anyone who works in Cambridge. O'Reilly claimed that the scrutinising of his work was due to homophobia.

More here but behind a paywall
https://www.ft.com/content/ae7f16ae-95ab-4aae-a676-0748e3e61b6d?shareType=nongift&syn-25a6b1a6=1

What recruitment gap?

Genuine question, not rhetorical.

When you look at your hires and conclude some groups are underrepresented, are you comparing to the general population, to the share of qualified applicants, to the share of grad students in that field, to the share that would be hired under a characteristics-blind process, what? And why that?

His back story was also fabricated nonsense.

Sadly he did get a job just because of left wing ,DEI , box ticking and posturing. He wasn't the best person for the job by any means.

must have got a top job only because of HR equality and diversity posturing and box ticking...

The issue is that in this case, there was a certain amount of box ticking EDI thinking going on. The plagiarism was serious, as was his fabulation of some life events.

Frankly, a white woman or man with a standard life story would not even have been offered all the opportunities Dr Arday was given. There are many working class talented postgrads who have never plagiarised or tabulated, but have never had his chances.

You don't have to have a working knowledge of DEI to know that its very existence is failing. Policy decisions, which affect the wider population deserve scrutiny. Students feeling let down, deserve answers.

Edited for spelling

I think its the other way round. There's been such an upsurge in racism with the far right being increasingly active of late, that people who are not racist are particularly vigilant. A racist makes it their business to target a black academic? Of course the first thought is that their motivation is to discredit black academics. Because it was. Just because in this instance they found what they were looking for doesn't change that.
The way it's been gleefully trumpeted from the rooftops is the very opposite of people being 'too scared to say anything'. The misdeeds of a sociology professor is hardly the stuff most of the public consider of national import, yet there's been a campaign to ensure the fact a black man has done wrong is everywhere.
He can't even escape it by ending his life, due to the determination to use his case to push the agenda that black people are protected from scrutiny. When if that were really the case, the man would still be alive.

OK but even if all said here is true, the response and coverage went on and on in a very disproportionate manner in my view. It really wasn’t that interesting or important a story (to me) to warrant all of that. A day or two maybe then on to the next thing. Obviously some people did find it so engaging that it went on and on and on, but why? It pushed some particular buttons and fed particular agendas is why.

Poor man has died now

Think it’s definitely the other stuff about his personal history and the lies there. I think a lot more academics should be scrutinised tbh, regardless of colour, it indicates that universities are doing a shit job in hiring tbh.

I’ve seen ethnic minority academics pointing out how harmful it is to people like them when DEI motivates selection rather than academic rigour. None of this helped black academics one bit and it’s done a lot of harm when people who have earned their places.

I’m sorry he’s dead but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t have been scrutinised.

Yes @seawitchandgarden2 and this is why the whole situation is so damaging.

He was a stooge of white guilt. But he was also a plagiarist (of a woman’s work) and a fabulist. When a respected journalist (Jack Grove, of the Times Higher, a major international HE publication) tried to probe the plagiarism, Dr Arday employed the bulldog law firm, Carter Ruck, and had the police stop Grove from investigating. Police state, much?

Dr Arday had an amazing message to tell, and that should speak for itself.

But unfortunately , we all needed to hear the message from someone we thought was “authentic”. I think we all needed to reflect on that - is a “message” only valuable because of the messenger? Again, I’m reminded of The Salt Path.

And it seems impossible not to conclude that Dr Arday was appointed to posts because of his ethnicity and life story - that these came packaged with his academic scholarship.

But this really tragic case shouldn’t stop our EDI efforts: the proportion of women professors in the UK. Is between 15 & 20% of the entire professoriate. When I joined my current department for example ( in 2013) I was their first and only female professor, in a field. I’m only sen as “dominated” by women. And there is a serious dearth of working class academics.

They guy claimed he was mute and that he ran record marathons. Of course the lies got attention because they were so ridiculous yet taken at face value by people who are supposed to represent the finest brains in Britain. If he had just plagiarised it would have been over and done with quickly.

It's not a Duracell battery we are talking about here. Do you not realise the wealth of power and knowledge that academia holds; its effect on life/people and other organisms? Academic appointments should come with great scrutiny - whether the postholder is black or white. You appear to be viewing this through a very narrow lens.

I think it did press buttons.

But I don’t think they were “there are too many black professors” buttons. I think not many people are very animated by that.

But I think there are a lot of people, rightly, animated by “many important institutions, including academia, have been shovelling obvious horseshit at us and crying -ist and -phobe at anyone who refuses to fall into line, and it should stop”

The interest was fueled by his autobiography, and the many claims in it.

For the wider public that is the interest, if it was just plagiarism it would not have been headline news.

No..The poster is correct. You are wrong. It was out of all proportion because he was black..White plagiarists have not received wall to wall scrutiny..It's racism. Pure and simple. It's bloody obvious.

People including academics have been querying his work for years. They were ignored and dismissed as racists.

He had a huge platform which he used to his advantage and often focused more on his rather incredible life rather than any academic contributions.

To the point he was publishing a memoir about this incredible life. Unusual for a 41 year old academic.

That's why there's been so much attention. Because he was continually drawing attention to his incredible life story rather than focusing on his academic work.

Had he kept his head down and focused on his work quietly, he wouldn't have been paid so much attention but he didn't, he promoted focus on his life.

And it goes beyond accusations of plagiarism. It's also about ND and possible lies around that and his accusations of lifelong racist attacks, violent ones, with at this point, not a lot of evidence to support that.

He said in his resignation that he didn't accept the narratives being created around and about him but he created those narratives in the first place.

"White plagiarists have not received wall to wall scrutiny"

Did they get made the youngest professors in Cambridge history instead?

I probably worded that wrong. I don’t think there shouldn’t have been any scrutiny on it or it isn’t important or of interest at all. I do think the level, length and intensity of coverage was disproportionate.

Yeah bang to rights guv. Pure and simple, no nuance, no Walter Mittifications, no lies about academic achievements, which jeopardised students' marks and progression. You got me .

What really frightens me is the thought that there are other people in top positions who don't belong there. You see it in TV comedy all the time – painfully unfunny people who are only on the BBC because they tick a box. But what about the medical profession? Are there people out there making life and death decisions when they're not really up to it? I have no doubt many people around Arday knew he was a fake. Ffs these are Cambridge academics – some of the cleverest people in the world. So why didn't they speak out? It had to be for one of two reasons, either:

1. They were left-wing/believers in DEI or
2. They were too scared to say anything because they knew they'd be attacked by left-wing activists who'd destroy their career

I cant help thinking that if Arday had been white and this had been a slightly earlier era, he would have been celwbrated as a great wag and invited to eveey smart dinner party in London, byt becausw he's black and it's rhe 21sr cenruey he was hounded to death as an upstart who didnt know his place. Disgusting.

My issue is that the media have made this clearly troubled man a poster boy for Diversity initiatives and in doing so have given the wrong impression about what these initiatives involve
For example some investment banks have encouraged black / ethnic students to apply for front line banking roles via Spring Weeks as these groups are underrepresented in Investment banking .
These student still have to go through the interview, various assessments etc to obtain a full time role
A friend of mine works in HR for a bulge bracket investment bank and said the black / ethnic students are generally among the most talented . They generally achieve f 1st class degrees or high 2:1’s . These banks will not take people with 2:2’s and your offer is withdrawn if you do not make the grade
Despite these initiatives there groups are still underrepresented .
The attempts to undermine the diversity and the overuse of the word ‘woke’ to explain diversity is extremely galling

It’s very naive of you to believe there’s no such thing as ‘diversity hiring’. I’ve witnessed it in different ways. In the mid 80s, my university (MMU) actively admitted specific cohorts with lower qualifications based on specific characteristics for the BEd Hons degree course I was on.
Those applicants who were from specific backgrounds (Afro-Caribbean or Black African) and lived in the city, did not need to meet the requirement of having any A levels to be admitted and they got priority for places. They also received bursaries from Manchester City council not available to other students. Of the 5 students enrolled on my course none were able to complete, with 4 dropping out before the end of the first year. Nobody thought to ensure that these students were able to manage the academic rigour required to complete an Honours degree course.
Much more recently in my teaching career, I know of governing bodies who have ensured that person specifications for a Head teacher’s job have narrowed the field so much that only a certain demographic of people could apply.
DEI appointments absolutely happen.

As usual Dappy, you're bang on the money.

S. 159 of EA 2010 provides very narrow route. But it's rarely used because it's usually really hard to prove candidates were of exact same merit so it can potentially open employer up to tribunal case(and it was misused by Cheshire police)