Jason Arday, a black academic who quit the University of Cambridge last week after a high-profile plagiarism scandal that included allegations of racism, was discovered dead yesterday, the prominent British school said.
Arday, 41, was discovered unconscious yesterday afternoon at a property in south London, AFP said. The Metropolitan Police Service in the capital did not confirm the identify of the deceased when they were located.
We are terribly heartbroken to learn this dreadful news’, said the senior administrator of Cambridge University, Vise Chancellor Deborah Prentice, in a brief statement. Latest news
Arday’s family denounced what they called a “campaign of harassment” after charges regarding his academic work and personal life.
‘The campaign of disinformation was too much for Jason, who was a lovely man and who always sought the best in everyone,’ the family stated in a statement issued thru his publisher Simon & Schuster.
The scandal broke after certain academics and media sources accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarising parts of his doctoral work.
British right-wing publications and commentators have seized on the accusations, arguing he was unfairly advantaged by policies on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI).
On 5 August, shortly after Jesus College announced investigations into the different accusations, Arday said he was stepping down as a professor and fellow of Jesus College.
Arday said in a letter released online that resigning was “the only way” to end a “difficult period” but stressed the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.
Reports in the Press
Police said officers had been summoned by the London Ambulance Service “after a report that a man had been found unresponsive inside a property” in the city’s Battersea neighbourhood.
In a statement it said: “Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin has been contacted.
His death at this time is being seen as unexpected but is not considered suspicious.
“Officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit are investigating the case. “A file will be compiled for the coroner.
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said she was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the news. News
She called on people to give his family “privacy thru this incredibly difficult period (and) to remember there are real people with loved ones involved”.
The furor against Arday escalated after Nathan Cofnas, a US scholar and self-defined “race realist” whose Cambridge research association terminated in 2024 amid racism accusations, released claims about him in July.
Among the claims were that Arday’s doctoral dissertation contained copied passages from other authors.
A number of investigative articles into Arday’s academic career and personal life have been published in The Times and Telegraph publications.
Some of his statements regarding his personal life were also contested, such as that he previously completed 30 marathons in 35 days and had given millions for organisations.
‘Motivated by Race’
Earlier this month Arday told The Times in an interview that he had made academic “mistakes” but was being erroneously “portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud”.
He further said the “campaign to remove me from my position” was “race-motivated”.
The issue over Arday seems to have divided the Cambridge university campus and the larger academic community.
A group of university academics wrote to Prentice last week condemning Arday’s selection and calling on her to form an independent commission to review what happened.
Others have penned combined letters of support for him.
Prentice termed his alleged wrongdoing “an aberration” and offered a full and transparent probe, while stressing it should not be used “to cast aspersions” on other ethnic minority academics.
The American psychologist said the investigation would examine the “circumstances” of Arday’s selection and his time in the role, and would include academics from “outside of Cambridge”.
Arday’s book, Great and Unfortunate Things, went on sale in the United States on Thursday, a day ahead of its release in Britain later this month. It has also drawn attention.
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