- More than 31,000 people, including several MPs, have signed a petition urging U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham to hold a public inquiry into alleged media harassment of the late academic Jason Arday, the organizers said Sunday.
- The petition was launched by the Good Law Project activist group after Arday, who was appointed three years ago as the youngest-ever Black professor at Cambridge University, was found dead on Friday.
- The Good Law Project had been supporting Arday since he resigned earlier this month from the university and as a fellow of Jesus College after both institutions launched investigations into allegations of plagiarism and fabricating or exaggerating his life story.
- Following Arday's death on Friday, which police are not treating as suspicious, his family and friends denounced a campaign of sustained abuse since his 2023 appointment.
- Simon Woolley, Arday's former mentor, told the BBC that Arday said he felt hounded to death, his words, that he couldn't see a way out.
- The allegations against Arday, 41, received widespread media coverage after another academic, self-defined race realist Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024, said in July he found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor's work.
- British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, claiming Arday, who disputed the allegations, had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
More than 31,000 signatures have been collected on a petition calling for a public inquiry into the media treatment of Jason Arday, a prominent academic who tragically passed away on Friday. The petition, initiated by the Good Law Project, highlights concerns over alleged press harassment that Arday faced during his career.12
Arday, who became the youngest Black professor at Cambridge University, had recently resigned amid allegations of plagiarism and fabricating his life story. The Good Law Project stated, “There cannot be any doubt that Dr. Arday’s tragic death was the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment,” emphasizing that racism played a significant role in the media's treatment of him.3
The allegations against Arday gained traction after Nathan Cofnas, a former academic, claimed to have found instances of plagiarism in his work. This led to a media frenzy, with some commentators suggesting that Arday had unfairly benefited from diversity initiatives. In his resignation letter, Arday expressed that his decision was “the only way” to end a “difficult period,” but he did not accept the narratives surrounding him.7
Following his death, which police do not consider suspicious, friends and family have condemned the “campaign of sustained abuse” he endured. Simon Woolley, Arday’s mentor, revealed that Arday had expressed feeling “hounded to death” and unable to see a way out.
“The Good Law Project, which backed Arday after his resignation, asserts his death was the 'direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment' and that 'racism lay at the heart of this story.' His former mentor Simon Woolley said Arday 'felt hounded to death' and 'couldn't see a way out.'”
CP24
