Ex-Cambridge University professor at centre of plagiarism scandal found dead

LONDON – British academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm, was found dead on Aug 14, the prestigious British institution confirmed.

Arday, 41, was found unresponsive on the afternoon of Aug 14 at an address in south London, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service, which did not confirm the identity of the deceased person at the time of discovery.

“We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Cambridge University’s top administrator, vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice, said in a brief statement.

Arday’s family criticised what they called a “campaign of harassment” that followed allegations about his academic work and personal life.

“The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone,” the family said in a statement released through his publisher Simon & Schuster.

The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis.

The allegations have been seized on by British right-wing newspapers and commentators, who claim that he unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion policies.

Arday announced on Aug 5 that he was resigning from both his university post as a professor and as a fellow of Jesus College, shortly after they announced probes into the various accusations.

In a letter posted online, Arday wrote that quitting was “the only way” to end a “difficult period”, but insisted that the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.

Newspaper claims

Police said officers had been called by the London Ambulance Service “following a report that a man had been found unresponsive inside a property” in the city’s Battersea neighbourhood.

“Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene,” it said in a statement, noting his next of kin had been informed.

“At this time, his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious.

“The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit. A file will be prepared for the coroner.”

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked (and) saddened” by the news.

She urged people to give his family “privacy through this incredibly difficult period (and) to remember there are real people with loved ones involved”.

The furore around Arday grew after Nathan Cofnas, a US academic and self-defined “race realist” – whose Cambridge research affiliation ended in 2024 amid racism accusations – published claims about him in July. The allegations included that multiple sections of Arday’s doctoral dissertation were copied from other works.

The Times and Telegraph newspapers have published several investigative articles into Arday’s academic work and personal life.

Some of his claims about his personal life, including that he once ran 30 marathons in 35 days and raised millions for charities, were also disputed.

‘Racially motivated’

In an interview with The Times earlier in August, Arday admitted making academic “mistakes” but said he was being wrongly “portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud”. He also alleged the “campaign to unseat me from my position” was “racially motivated”.

The controversy around Arday appears to have divided the Cambridge campus and wider academia. A group of university academics last week wrote to Prentice slamming Arday’s appointment and asking her to appoint an independent body to probe what happened. Others have written joint letters in support of him.

On Aug 12, Prentice had called his alleged wrongdoing “an aberration” and vowed a thorough and transparent investigation, while insisting it should not be used “to cast aspersions” on other academics from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The American psychologist promised the probe would look into the circumstances of Arday’s appointment and his time in post that would include academics from “beyond Cambridge”.

Arday’s memoir – Great And Unfortunate Things – had been published in the US the previous day, ahead of its planned release in Britain later in August. It has also attracted scrutiny. AFP