Jason Arday row: Cambridge to review senior hiring

The University of Cambridge will review how it appoints senior academics as it continues to investigate plagiarism claims involving Jason Arday, who resigned from his university and college posts this week.

Cambridge said Friday that, regardless of Arday's resignation, it would continue to investigate the circumstances around his appointment and tenure. It said the findings would feed into a review of the process for appointing senior academic roles.

Arday resigned Wednesday with immediate effect as Cambridge professor of sociology of education and as a fellow of Jesus College. In a letter posted online, he said leaving was “the only way” to end a difficult period, but said the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.

Cambridge had previously defended Arday, who became widely known in 2023 when he was appointed as the university's youngest Black professor. The university said Wednesday that a probe had been prompted by “new information”, without specifying in that announcement.

Jesus College has said it is launching its own investigation. Sonita Alleyne, the college's head and the first Black head of an Oxbridge college, has removed her name from a petition defending Arday.

The Times has published investigative articles about Arday's academic work and personal life. In an interview with the newspaper, Arday admitted to academic “mistakes” but said he was being wrongly portrayed as “a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud”. He also alleged that the campaign to remove him from his post was racially motivated.

Plagiarism claims against Arday were first made in July by Nathan Cofnas, a US academic and self-described “race realist” whose Cambridge research affiliation was terminated in 2024 amid racism accusations.