Was Jason Arday just the perfect victim?

[KellyK2026]

Surely I can’t be the only one that feels like Jason Arday was a victim, right? Yesterday he was found dead and I feel bad for him. Here’s the reasons why I think he was a victim:

1. It is absolutely insane to me that Cambridge University would appoint him as a Professor when he was in the early stages of his career. It’s practically unheard of. At any university you typically have to earn your dues (which means working as an academic for many years) OR do something truly special, like a Nobel Prize nomination, to be promoted to Professor. I cannot imagine the amount of pressure he had been under to prove himself and likely had a tremendous amount of imposter syndrome. Cambridge let him down.
2. I’ve worked in academia for many years, and let me tell you, academics are under a tremendous amount of pressure to publish. This pressure can compromise quality. Arday isn’t the first nor will he be the last to publish questionable papers.
3. As I’ve worked in academia for years, I’ve experienced academics make racist and sexist remarks first hand. One white academic I worked with got drunk at a work get together and started a rant about how Black people shouldn't be president (this was when Obama was in power), that Obama was a Muslim and interracial relationships were ‘disgusting’. What made this somewhat even worse was that this particular academic wrote about racism in the public sphere, so he profited from writing about Black struggles while harbouring these personal views. There was no repercussions for him, despite presenting himself as something other than what he was.
4. I’ve also been sexually assaulted at a conference by a male academic. No repercussions for him either and he no doubt pretends to be a feminist in his work.
5. I don’t think it’s in doubt that Arday had autism. Now I don’t know how it affected him personally, but, again, that must’ve been extremely difficult and perhaps even blurred what is and isn’t acceptable in higher education.
6. He was also cleared of plagiarism but, again, so many academics have plagiarised ideas and papers, but they haven’t been strung up like Arday has been.

So, long story short, I feel like Cambridge let him down. And I feel like he was targeted because there’s plenty of other examples but they never get called out and nobody cares. It was a witch hunt. But I’d be interested to hear what others have to say on this matter.

Where does that come from? It's not in Wikipedia and doesn't seem to be in the msm.... If I pose it as a question in a search engine ("was Jason Arday divorced?") the answer that comes back is "no".

Arday was already in the public eye. He was on the BBC doing puff pieces was part of talk panels and was on the board of runnymead(sp) group he was hardly some unknown person

Agree completely. It's a difficult and complicated case with multiple dimensions. Multiple people failed him, and he failed himself too, maybe due to mh issues. On the other hand Nathan Cofas made him his own personal crusade and I think he is one of the ones who have pursued this not for journalistic instincts etc but purely for his own enjoyment.

He didn’t set out to be in the public eye. He was a PE teacher who did a PhD and then Cambridge made him their poster boy. His story is very different.

Jason Arday was an adult man. Not a piece of seaweed, batted by the currents. He lied, kept on lying, got caught and killed himself. He had complete agency and this is what he decided to.

Unfortunately when narcissistic fantasists are caught in their lies, it is not uncommon to commit suicide.

Simon Webb of History Debunked has been on his case for a while,
had Arday sussed, not as easy to silence as Arday’s contemporaries
colleagues or intrepid journalists.

I got that feeling too when I watched Cofa’s interview. It seemed like he really wanted to find something wrong with Arday that would fit with his beliefs around Black people in academia. Then he published it rather than going through formal channels. I think he definitely got some sick satisfaction from it.

Is the part about him having a brain tumour true? If so, it may explain some aspects.

What, and then doing a viva two weeks later? No, bollocks.

I’m absolutely proud of my political views but I also refuse to be strong armed on a Thread that has nothing to do with that. So if you want to continue with this instead of talking about the topic of the Thread then I suggest you do it elsewhere. Cheerio.

Yes, - ok thanks

His original accuser was an educational journalist who has a history of looking into plagiarism but he was shut down with legal threats and a police investigation. The racist was just the person who 1st published the story

I don’t know although, from my limited medical knowledge, I’d say unlikely if he was up and running a short while after. A lot of this we will just never know as it’s not like his medical records are ever going to be released.

I had heard of him about 6 months to a year ago. He was the guest editor on the Today program and I heard him interviewed several times on various radio 4 programs.
I wouldn’t have heard of him had he not been appointed as the youngest black professor- which was why he edited the Today program or heard his interview if he hadn’t learned to read and write so late in life - which is what he was being interviewed about.

Had the other professor who had plagiarised had had the media exposure that he did then I possibly would have heard of him.

I feel for his family and those who loved him. He was failed by so many.

I don’t think it’s in doubt that Arday had autism.

Isn't it? His medical records haven't been released, to the best of my knowledge.

I agree with you about Cambridge, btw. I hope they don't attempt to sweep the proposed investigation under the carpet now that the subject of the enquiry is dead.

You really appear to know very few facts about the man.

Didn’t set out to be in the public eye but was set to have a book come out about his life???

"Nathan Cofnas, a professor of philosophy at Cambridge."

He wasn't a prof. He was a Marie curie fellow or some such. A postdoc on a temp contract who is not tenured.

So employers shouldn't take the risk hiring mentally ill people in case their mental health deterioates further? Because that is effectively what you're saying here.

It's a fine line. Cambridge university should have throroughly vetted him and not employed someone lying on application, at interview and in the acaedemic work he was using to support his application, and same at promotion. But I think you need to be very careful implying that organisations are responsible for excerbations of pre-exisiting mental health and personality disorders, otherwise you lock a whole lot of people out of employment.

Okay, prove to me that he made up a PhD

It should be pointed out that his PhD was awarded by the John Moore’s Liverpool University not by Cambridge so they should be explaining the plagiarism charges.
What Cambridge should be explaining is how that parlayed into being given a Professorship at one of the world’s (supposedly) most prestigious universities without confirming the backstory.

Are people with Autism sophisticated and prolific fantastist and manipualtive liars? I didn't think these were classic traits.

Some frankly bizarre assertions here. There is no evidence of racism victims being white. As pp have said there are documented examples of similar bizarre behaviour from white academics who still have their jobs, and didn't receive a fraction of the media attention.

The original accuser is undoubtedly a racist POS, unfortunately in this case he hit the jackpot.