Cambridge professor Jason Arday loses support as plagiarism row deepens
University professor Jason Arday has lost a key ally after a planned story on plagiarism claims against him was dropped last year, adding fresh
Cambridge University professor Jason Arday has lost a key ally after a planned story on plagiarism claims against him was dropped last year, adding fresh weight to a row that has spilled far beyond one thesis. The dispute now sits at the intersection of academic integrity, race and the glare that follows high-profile appointments.
The latest fallout comes as Arday, Cambridge’s youngest Black professor when he was appointed in 2023, insists he is “not a liar” and says the accusations are part of a coordinated effort to push him out. He has acknowledged errors in his work, but says the criticism has been driven by racism and by hostility to diversity policies.
Allegations that would not go away
The accusations first surfaced in public after academic Nathan Cofnas, a former Cambridge role holder who styles himself a “race realist,” said he found multiple examples of plagiarism in Arday’s work and questioned some of his achievements. That claim helped ignite a broader debate over whether Black scholars face harsher scrutiny than their peers.
Arday told the Times he had become a “lightning rod” for attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion. He also said some of the problems in his early academic writing came from his autism and his use of mimicry to process information. Short sentence. He said similar checks would uncover comparable mistakes in other academics’ work.
A story that was spiked
Retraction Watch reported last week that Times Higher Education had been preparing a major piece on alleged plagiarism in Arday’s PhD thesis and journal articles in September 2025, but did not publish after he brought in Carter-Ruck, one of Britain’s best-known defamation firms. Three sources told the outlet the story was shelved after the legal warning.
The same report said biochemist David Sanders, a plagiarism sleuth at Purdue University who reviewed a 63-page dossier of text comparisons, concluded there was “extensive plagiarism.” The allegations later resurfaced in a Substack post by Nathan Cofnas.
Cambridge stands by its professor
Cambridge has previously investigated the claims and said it found no wrongdoing, describing the attacks as part of a “vile campaign” to undermine Arday’s credibility. Liverpool John Moores University, where he completed his PhD, has also been drawn into the scrutiny.
Arday’s memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, is still due out in late August, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. The book tells the story of his rise from a nonverbal childhood with autism to becoming Cambridge’s youngest Black professor.
But the row has not settled. It has widened. And the next marker comes fast: the memoir’s scheduled release later this month.
