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.

That was after his appointment and after he’d been made a poster boy for Cambridge.

That's very true.

I don’t think he was autistic.

If we look at his strengths which appear to be true; professional team sport, public speaking off the cuff, charming people, slipping into all manner of situations without any awkwardness.

Then I really struggle to believe he was autistic. Because these are all the things autistic people are really quite challenged by.

No but so far I’ve not seen a credible source that suggests he didn’t have autism but I’ve seen quite a few sources which say that he did, including reports from his former teachers. Of course I can’t prove one way or the other, but based on what I’ve read I’m taking that particular part of his story at face value.

Ahhh, so they had a gun to his head. Got it.

This is a totally bullshit thread. You ended your OP with wanting to hear others’ thoughts, whereas you’re actually just pushing your agenda with every post.

I’m out.

There was also an academic from Plymouth Marjon who wrote to Arday querying some of his work several years ago who was also threatened with the police. And then the students that complained about his teaching and were told it was because they were racist. Cofas just put the stories together. Yes plagiarism in academia happens (I’m academia adjacent and it’s a cut throat world) but generally there’s a mea culpa and the plagiarist slinks out of sight for a while. JA invited scrutiny by being so combative and unrepentant about it. And also the intersection of his race, his growing media profile and his claimed neurodiversity made his story catnip. Just look at us now - this is the umpteenth thread in the last few days.

You've never lied? If you say you haven't I'm pretty sure you'll have proved yourself wrong.

He was a fantasist. Didn't deserve to be hounded to death by the media. Cambridge uni have a lot more questions to answer than he did personally.

His self promotional public speaking events and public profiles started well before he was hired by Cambridge and helped get him his job there in the 1st place.
Arday put himself in the spotlight and was happy to be there as can be seen by his book. Nobody forced him to do any of this.
You really should look up self agrandising fantasist before you comment further

I certainly don’t want this Thread to descend into a conversation about whether or not he had Autism as we only know what we know.

A tragedy regardless of any failings of his. He did not deserve the mauling he received in the press, out of all proportion to anything he was alleged to have done. It’s a crying shame and a damning indictment of the state of the global media.

My thoughts are with all those who knew and loved him.

I think it's fair enough to discuss some of the claims. I think that poster has a valid point.

You write this as if it is a smoking gun?

The Cofnas angle was already raised several times, several pages ago.

And as @LeedsLoiner said earlier, "The original accuser is undoubtedly a racist POS, unfortunately in this case he hit the jackpot."

Is there something else about your big reveal that somehow exonerates JA from all the claims against him?

No likely especially with his claims around it or the fact that he originally claimed he had testicular cancer and when questioned about his ability to have had children naturally after it suddenly becomes a brain tumour

You’re not understanding what I’m saying. Not once have I said he didn’t lie or exaggerate, I think it’s pretty clear that there was, at a minimum, exaggeration and, at worst, blatant lies. However, I see a man who was failed by the system and it’s a shame he’s dead. Kieran wasn’t held up as a poster boy for a leading university. JA didn’t lie about having a PhD. By all accounts he had the credentials to start a life as an academic. I can’t speak for why JA did the things he did, but he wasn’t a terrible person. He even said he wished he wasn’t held up as the youngest black professor, so I don’t know what pressure he felt. He said he felt harassed and all of this and I’m not about to disagree with the feelings of a dead man who isn’t here to defend himself.

Oh god, this is a lot worse than I thought. What a mess.

Yes of course. But I have seen multiple people across many threads going on saying ‘this autistic man’ sic. And I have wanted to comment that somewhere but no where felt appropriate as I didnt want to quote an individual because as you say we dont know for sure and will never know now - it is a subjective opinion. And thats mine - because nothing at all is saying autism to me here. I have watched his lectures. He’s personable, has bouncy presence, confidence and charisma, good eye contact and really was a good speaker (of nonsense yes) but these are strengths not common in the population. It is a shame because he would have been great at something. He had a number of rare traits.

I can't feel sympathy tbh. While it's sad when anyone commits suicide, he was a liar and a conman and was found out 🤷‍♀️ he wasn't a victim, he was a grown man who made some really bad choices.

Cheerio!

Bloody hell, there’s some heartless people on here.

Hope you’re life never falls apart!

your not you’re

They can't not with the tribunal that they lost end of last week over whistleblowwers being targeted bullied investigated for 2+ years and Deborah prentice and hr were at the heart of that mess too

Well, someone discussing EDI is more than likely aware of what it is and how it applies in terms of policy, whereas someone invoking DEI more than likely has too much right wing grifty bullshit on their feed.

So yeah, the words themselves may mean the same but the acronyms have meaning and resonance beyond that

Personally I’ve met autistic people who are really good at public speaking and give plenty of eye contact so, like you said, it’s all subjective.

All good grifts come to an end.

Well I see your post has been deleted by MN, so you’re even breaking their rules just to try and win an argument.