Jason Arday: Former Cambridge university professor found dead

Arday’s appointment as Cambridge’s youngest ever black professor at the age of 37 in 2023 was hailed at the time as a progressive moment.

Announcing his resignation last week, Arday said the “personal cost” of the scrutiny of him had become “too great”.

He said: “While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement.

“The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.”

He stressed that his resignation should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”.

Cambridge initially said claims of plagiarism regarding Arday’s thesis and some journal publications had been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the journals in question.

LJMU – which awarded Arday his PhD in 2015 – concluded that he had not plagiarised work.

Earlier this week, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into his appointment.

In a letter to university staff at the time, Prof Prentice said: “I fully understand the concerns being raised across the university and well beyond it, regarding Jason Arday’s appointment and I share them…

“That investigation, as you say, should be thorough and transparent, and will be carried out independently by senior academics from within and beyond Cambridge.”

Cambridge celebrated Arday’s appointment as a young black professor, one of a tiny and visible majority in academia. Only one per cent of professors in UK universities are black, making each appointment hugely significant.

The university will have to answer bigger questions including about its duty of care after it put him into a very prominent position.

It may also find itself the lightning rod for anger from several different quarters, including those who feel Arday was persecuted publicly and those who question whether he should ever have been appointed.

Jolyon Maugham from campaign group Good Law Project said Arday’s death was “a tragedy”.

“I do not understand what the public interest was in continuing to hound him after he resigned as a professor and I do not understand what risk assessments media outlets did,” Maugham added.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews and friend of Arday described him as “very down” after resigning from Cambridge.

“He was very upset. He felt that there was no way out. He effectively wasn’t leaving the house. He had lost a lost of weight,” Andrews said.

“There should be a wakeup call to just how bad black academics actually have it in academia,” he added.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the programme “the idea that an academic would be dragged through this amount of media scrutiny is unheard of”.