Jason Arday, the youngest black professor in Cambridge University’s 817-year history, has died. But intense public debate about his life and work, and what it means for a society grappling with multiculturalism, continues, perhaps even more intensely.
Mr Ardey died on Friday at the age of 41, following mounting pressure from British and international media investigating every aspect of his life. The questioning ranged from his educational background to his claim that he was mute until he was 11 years old, to his athletic ability, which followed his claim that he once ran 30 marathons in 35 days.
His family has blamed his death on a “sustained campaign of abuse”, which is said to have begun the day he was appointed professor at Cambridge University in February 2023. They suggested that those enraged by suggestions that he was over-promoted “will do everything in their power to undermine him.”
Some have gone further, calling the persistent focus on Arday a “toxic public shaming” (London Mayor Sadiq Khan) and a “racist witch hunt” (Stand Up to Racism’s Wayman Bennett).
Mr Arday’s article dominated the headlines and the coverage extended into the political realm, with leaders from Prime Minister Andy Burnham on down being consulted.
Mr Burnham, who took the top job less than a month ago, said Mr Ardey’s death was “a tragedy on many levels” and called for a “moment of reflection”.
That moment has not yet come.
The debate over Arde’s life and career, and what it means to society, continues just as fiercely, if not more so, despite his death.
Julia Hartley-Brewer, presenter on Talk TV, an online channel owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, said on Saturday: “Jason Arday is the only person responsible for Jason Arday’s death.”
“He was a liar and a fraud who was rightly exposed for who he was by academics and journalists just doing their jobs,” she added.
“This is not a question of right or left. This is a question of right or wrong,” she said on X less than 24 hours after police announced his death, which police called “unexpected but not suspicious.”
British right-wing weekly The Spectator said on Sunday that Ardea was “built and destroyed by the ruthless apparatus of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion).”
“No one can deny it now: Wokeness creates false gods and creates real tragedies,” wrote the magazine’s columnist Brendan O’Neill.
Meanwhile, Arday’s friends and supporters are calling on Burnham to commission a public inquiry into the role of the press in Arday’s death.
“Enough is enough,” they said in an open letter that had garnered more than 34,000 signatures by Sunday afternoon.
“There is no question that Dr. Ardey’s tragic death was the direct, foreseeable, and foreseeable result of harassment by the press. A key element of that harassment was the color of his skin. Self-regulation of the press has failed entirely.”
Ardey, who left behind two children, was appointed professor of sociology of education at the University of Cambridge on February 23, 2023, at the relatively young age of 37.
A university press release at the time described him as a “distinguished sociologist” and said his appointment was “the latest chapter in a remarkable academic career that began after overcoming illiteracy in his late teens.”
The announcement describes a boy who was diagnosed with a form of autism spectrum disorder at the age of three and “was unable to speak until age 11 and was unable to read or write until age 18.”
The university also noted that he is “the youngest black person to be appointed to a professorship at the University of Cambridge” and that he intends to use his platform to “bring more people from underrepresented backgrounds into higher education”. According to the Higher Education Research Association, there were only five other black professors at Cambridge University at the time, but blacks still make up only 1% of all professors in the UK.
But his appointment also sparked a firestorm among a group of academics and others who believe Cambridge and other universities and public bodies are trying too hard to increase diversity.
They argued that Mr Ardey’s race played a major role in his appointment ahead of other major international figures.
Questions arose regarding Arday’s research activities. Nathan Kofnas, then an academic at the University of Cambridge who defined himself as a “racial realist,” published a post on Substack alleging that Arday had plagiarized a colleague’s work in his 2015 doctoral thesis.
Liverpool John Moores University, where Mr Arday was awarded his PhD, dismissed the plagiarism allegation, finding that he had made an “honest and reasonable” mistake. Alday acknowledged the misquote and apologized, but denied lying.
Mr. Kofnas appeared on national radio and described Mr. Arday’s appointment as a “DEI ideology” and claimed that Mr. Arday was “not as smart” as other Cambridge professors. Kofnas published a study claiming that race is related to intelligence and that “under a color-blind system,” black people “would disappear from almost every important position outside of sports and entertainment.” Mr Kofunas was sacked from the University of Cambridge in the wake of the controversy caused by his comments.
Interest in Alday continued to grow. Over the past year, more than 200 British national newspaper articles about Arday have been printed, with hundreds more online. According to NLA Clipshare, the Times of London alone has more than 60 articles.
The incident was widely reported in the United States, including on CNN, where President Trump has attacked DEI policies.
Media attention ranged from questions about his educational background to claims that he ran 600 miles in six days for charity. Whether he lied about appearing in a TV documentary series that aired decades before he was born. Was he truly mute as a child? and his claim that a pig’s head was sent to his home.
In early August, Ardey resigned from his position at the University of Cambridge, saying the “relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a heavy toll on me and those I love.”
The University of Cambridge launched an investigation into his appointment after “new information” emerged about his academic background and honorary status.
Cambridge University Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said the university was “desperately saddened” to learn of Mr Ardey’s death.
But the university faces questions about why it did not act sooner to investigate the allegations and whether it could have provided sufficient support to academics facing such relentless public scrutiny.
For months, the university has told journalists that its appointment system is strict and defensible, and that the campaign targets black academics on the basis of their race.
A university spokesperson said: “Jason received a range of mental and physical health support during his time at Cambridge, including the provision of counseling, advice and safety measures. Our support continued in the face of intense public and media scrutiny, and even after his resignation.”
Ardey’s supporters acknowledge there are legitimate questions about his academic background, but see a disproportionate press campaign with tragic consequences.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said Mr Ardeh had been subjected to a “brutal treatment in public which sparked a storm of racism”.
“I don’t think this was ever just about ‘professional conduct’ or ‘plagiarism,'” he said. “There’s a big difference between scrutiny and an ongoing populist movement that makes individuals into symbols of everything the right believes is wrong about DEI.”
Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Center for Autism Research at the University of Cambridge and a close friend of Arday, said: “Jason was a kind and gentle man,” adding: “He was being used as a lightning rod to explore this DEI policy.”
“Over the last 10 days, I have witnessed his mental state deteriorate further and further as the media did not stop ridiculing, humiliating and discrediting him,” he told the BBC. “He was exposed to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, every detail of his life was discredited, he was unable to cope with the loss of his career and reputation, and he felt he could not continue.”
Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, help is available. In the US, call or text 988 for help. The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Associations Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.
