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

@Switchnow Look at the fate of the CEOs at BP in recent years. Just one example. The reason you don't hear as much is because organisations that are profit driven are much more aware of their reputational damage and get rid of people at the mere whiff of scandal.

Cambridge could have admitted to plagiarism concerns and perhaps quietly made a settlement or agreement for JA to move on. End of scandal. However they and JA chose to double down and instigate legal proceedings (by the most aggressive media law firm) and police investigations. They stoked the media fire and didn't care that they put journalists jobs at risk.

JA could have chosen not to agree a book deal once people starting asking questions about him but instead he chose a full on media strategy.

Had he been in a leadership position in a Corporate, irrespective of race, he would have been forced to go years ago, quietly to avoid media interest. They employ PR for exactly these reasons to hush up any poor decisions.

The plagiarism isn't the interesting thing though, it's all the rest. All the fantasy lies about marathons and charity work and being autistic and non-verbal and illiterate.

Yes, there are Dr's, Police Officers, teachers, nurses, members of the military and academic who have been found to have fake qualifications and backgrounds.

But they didn't have the public platform Arday did where he was very publicly promoting his incredible story and writing and publishing a memoir about his fantastical life.

Had the other frauds done so, there would have been as much media attention as Arday generated.

A memoir incidentally that this aparrent PhD scholar needed a ghost writer to help him with.

I think saying he was on Seven Up was his silliest lie. It was just so easy to disprove. Clearly he was not mentally right. The witch hunt is awful, he didn’t physically harm anyone. It’s Cambridge and the book publisher that should be more to blame imo. What an incredibly sad situation.

It's also possible to do certain jobs very well with the right skills and experience but without the paper qualifications. This was obviously not the case for Arday.
However, as I said above, it's all the other lies that made this case really fascinating.

They're all to blame I think, although I'd be open to a psychiatrist explaining that he couldn't help all the lies he was saying and that it was a mental illness.
Seems some of his family were also part of it so did he have a dysfunctional upbringing?

"Had he been in a leadership position in a Corporate, irrespective of race, he would have been forced to go years ago, quietly to avoid media interest. They employ PR for exactly these reasons to hush up any poor decisions."

He seemed to be good on TV and radio so why didn't Cambridge just give him a PR job for them as some kind of ambassador and forget about all the academic stuff? Or would he still have been full of fantasies?

very sorry take. How terrible for his family to lose him. As others have said I don’t think the interest was anything to do with his colour or race. Lots of people blag their way into a job they arent qualified to do. Some get found out, others don’t.

but this man became famous, appeared on tv, and courted the limelight. He told ridiculous lie upon lie, and doubled down when challenged.

in many ways I’m reminded of the downfall of Jack Monroe, although of course she has slipped away into a new role now.

According to Wikipedia from January 2022 to March 2023, Arday was Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow. Glasgow Uni seem to agree as they are reviewing his appointment. He claimed to be a visiting professor at Glasgow University which was denied by the university.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26447080.glasgow-university-probe-jason-arday-appointment/

For us academics, the plagiarism is central & foundational. It is our most heinous sin, and for us, points to all the other stuff

So much of his fantasy world reminds me strongly of my ex, who has antisocial personality disorder (a psychopath in other words). Down to pretending to have brain surgery, my ex did that too! I think on one hand they genuinely believe the world they have created is real, but deep down they must know it’s not. And they will do ANYTHING to avoid admitting that when backed into a corner. JA ended up in that corner.

Reminds me of Rachel Dolezal.

Would a white person get hired under those circumstances in the first place - because the colour of their skin and their literally unbelievable life story would help the institution throw off its stuffy, traditionalist image?

Something a lot of people seem to overlooking in all this is that neither the UK nor the world has any shortage of talented and competent black academics. I cannot imagine Cambridge would have much trouble finding a black academic worthy of the post of sociology professor if they put a little effort into it.

I think major part of it really was the interest in the ludicrous stories. It's basically Anna Delvey without the money type of thing.

"I cannot imagine Cambridge would have much trouble finding a black academic worthy of the post of sociology professor if they put a little effort into it."

They wanted to have 'the youngest ever (?) black professor' though.

Yes, it's Cambridge that comes out worse in all this. Their fawning academics couldn't see beyond the prestige of having their first black professor. What a looking-glass world they must live in, totally detached from reality.

I'm not sure what you mean by proportion . I take your point that careers develop over time, but I think they were suggesting that even if you factor in all the variables , the disconnect between intake numbers and professor numbers suggested discrimination. If you compared intake to professor ratios for whites. Do even factoring in all these things you suggest, it was still shonky. That's what I'm saying.

Maybe in past but they’d back term & company you & oust you somehow if considered a poor fit.

Youngest ever neurodivergent, black professor

The people who hired him have a lot of responsibility for the ensuing shit show. To Hilary Cremin et al, appointing JA was just evidence of their righteousness and moral superiority to show off to the world.

That's certainly what piqued my interest when this story first hit my newsfeed here in Australia. The article had a headline along the lines of Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism - mildly interesting (because 'Cambridge') to an older woman cruising the web late at night, so I clicked on the article. The mutism, autism, was of note, the illiteracy (up to senior secondary school) raised my eyebrows a little but hey, it's possible. I moved on.

Then over the following days, his 'incredible feats' started to appear on Australian msm and that's what's kept it going - they were so absurd, they were laughable.

Though very serious, the plagiarism and poor work performance would not have made it onto our evening news.

Arguably Anna may have made it & was very competent in many ways.

The man who called it out seemed to be more concerned & shocked about poor quality of the writing as much as plagiarism. Was that factual?

True

I assumed it was just shorthand for some similar programme or study (?)

I’m not sure to what extent it still exists at. entry point - certainly not in my sector now. But there are still people around who have benefited from it and who we’re waiting on to retire. Once they’re in and they’ve done favours for others and people like them it’s much harder to get people to see their incompetence. It’s a bit different in academia where it’s more individualistic and harder to hide behind others achievements. Unless you’re in management.