LONDON (AP) 鈥� In 2012, a smiling was photographed by the British press carrying the Olympic flame in the torch relay preceding the London Games. He was back in the news in 2023 when Cambridge University hailed him as the youngest Black professor in the institution鈥檚 history.
Three years later, after weeks of news stories presenting evidence that he was a plagiarist and fabulist, Arday, 41, was on Friday at his apartment in south London.
His death quickly led to a . Cambridge has been criticized for elevating Arday in a rush to promote , despite red flags about his qualifications, and the news media has been targeted for driving him to despair when his credentials and life story began to unravel under intense scrutiny.
Universities are being criticized over 鈥榙ue diligence鈥�
James Cleverly, a Black member of Parliament and former Cabinet minister, said some universities 鈥渇ailed to do the proper due diligence.鈥�
鈥淲e see now that he was not completely honest and he clearly did have frailties and failings,鈥� Cleverly told Times Radio. 鈥淏ut he was teed up by a number of academic institutions because they desperately wanted a wunderkind. They desperately wanted to play on the fact he was young and Black and good-looking, and they wanted him to be their poster child.鈥�
But Patrick Vernon, who was recently knighted for his work on racial equality, focused on the media.
Coverage of the Arday story was out of proportion to his position in society, reflecting a higher standard for people of color, Vernon said.
鈥淗e鈥檚 not the prime minister of this country. He鈥檚 not a current secretary of the civil service or local government or the (National Health Service) or a chief executive of a major PLC. 鈥� But he was treated at the same standard, which is outrageous,鈥� Vernon said.
Cambridge trumpeted Arday’s arrival in 2023
Cambridge hired Arday as a professor of sociology of education in February 2023, when he was 37.
In announcing the appointment, Cambridge highlighted his place as the youngest Black professor in the university鈥檚 history and described him as a 鈥渞espected scholar鈥� focused on increasing the representation of Black, Asian and other minorities in higher education. Arday achieved this stature, the university said, even though he was born with a form of autism spectrum disorder that left him unable to speak until he was 11 and unable to read or write until his late teens 鈥� aspects of his biography that have since been questioned in news stories.
British universities have been working to hire more academics from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds so that their faculties better reflect the broader society.
There were 270 Black professors at U.K. universities during the 2024-25 academic year, up from 120 in 2016-17, according to data published by the Society for Research into Higher Education. Black scholars still represent just 1% of all U.K. professors, even though Black people make up about 4% of the working age population, the data shows.
Questions about Arday’s qualifications became public last month
Nathan Cofnas, a one-time Cambridge researcher who left the university after his vitriolic comments about diversity programs and minorities sparked widespread protests, said he had found evidence of plagiarism in Arday鈥檚 Ph.D. thesis. The Times of London and other newspapers picked up the story, publishing an analysis of the thesis and highlighting multiple passages they said were 鈥渋dentical or near-identical鈥� to an earlier paper by another academic.
The news media also questioned Arday鈥檚 claims about astounding personal accomplishments, such as running 30 marathons in 35 days, and raising 5.5 million pounds ($7.4 million) for charity.
The public scrutiny was partly fueled by the impending publication of Arday鈥檚 memoir, 鈥淕reat and Unfortunate Things.鈥� Simon & Schuster published the book last week in the U.S., and it is scheduled to be published in the U.K. on Aug. 27.
Cambridge initially stood by Arday
After initially standing by Arday, Cambridge said Aug. 5 that it was opening an investigation after receiving 鈥渘ew information鈥� about his qualifications. Arday resigned later that day.
The ceremonial head of Cambridge on Sunday defended the university鈥檚 decision and criticized media coverage of Arday.
鈥淚 do believe it is possible to hold to two principles at the same time: To believe in the importance of academic integrity, and, where criticisms of plagiarism arise about any academic, whoever they are, ensure that they are rigorously investigated, and also to refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic,鈥� Chancellor Chris Smith told the BBC.
An open letter demands an investigation of media coverage
By Tuesday afternoon, more than 120,668 people had signed an open letter calling on the government to commission a public inquiry into media coverage of Arday.
The letter alleges that media organizations kept up their coverage of Arday even after Simon Baron-Cohen, director of Cambridge University鈥檚 Autism Research Centre, publicly warned that their focus on a 鈥渧ulnerable autistic man鈥� raised 鈥渟afeguarding issues.鈥� Circulated by the Good Law Project, a campaign group, the letter says Arday and other prominent Black people have been subject to 鈥減ress harassment with racist overtones.鈥�
Steven Barnett, a professor of communications at the University of Westminster, put the onus on British newspapers, not social media. The mainstream press published 289 stories about Arday in 22 days, almost two-thirds of them after he resigned, he said.
No one should doubt that he was overwhelmed by the scrutiny because Arday himself said it was more than anyone could bear, Barnett said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 possible to overestimate the impact that those newspapers, those publishers, have had in this particular case,鈥� he said.
The news media reject criticism of the Arday story
Charles Moore, a former editor of the Daily Telegraph who writes about education, rejected that criticism in a column on Monday.
If Cambridge had properly investigated concerns about Arday that surfaced as early as 2023, he wouldn鈥檛 have suffered the shame caused by widespread media coverage, Moore wrote.
Rather than trumpeting Arday鈥檚 position as the university鈥檚 youngest ever Black professor, Cambridge 鈥渃ould quietly have nurtured his talents and sorted out his problems, which were surely those of a young man out of his depth rather than a brazen impostor,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t was the university, not the press, which was obsessed with the color of Dr. Arday鈥檚 skin,鈥� Moore wrote.
Columnist Sarah Ditum, writing in the Times of London, said Arday was a legitimate news story because his actions hurt the academics he plagiarized, public confidence in the rigor of his discipline and other early-career lecturers against whom he competed. But she acknowledged that the story was given extra oxygen because it broke during the summer, when Parliament is closed and journalists are desperate for something to write about.
鈥淎cademic plagiarists don鈥檛 usually make headlines, but Arday was not any old academic,鈥� Ditum wrote.
鈥淗e was publishing a high-profile memoir with celebrity blurbs,鈥� she added. 鈥淗e had chosen the spotlight.鈥�
Vernon, meanwhile, encouraged people to remember there was a man, a husband and father behind the headlines. He has created a GoFundMe campaign to help Arday鈥檚 family that has already raised more than 211,805 pounds ($288,489).
鈥淭his tells you that Britain still cares about justice, they care about inequalities,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd more importantly they really want to support Jason and his family in their hour of need.鈥�
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