Cambridge to review process for hiring senior academics after Jason Arday resignation

The University of Cambridge will review its process for appointing senior academics following the resignation of Jason Arday in the midst of a plagiarism row.

The institution said findings from an investigation into the education professor’s academic qualifications and appointments would “feed into” a new review on the appointment process for senior academic roles.

The Jesus College fellow has also faced accusations of fabricating or exaggerating elements of his CV. He has defended himself and his work, with attention now turning to Cambridge’s handling of concerns and his upcoming memoir.

News of the review comes after a group of academics called for an independent probe into his appointment.

Priyamvada Gopal, professor of postcolonial studies at Cambridge and among those calling for an independent inquiry, said the university was facing “massive reputational damage” over the affair.

“This is reputational damage that has upset colleagues across disciplines, across the political spectrum,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.

“I’ve been quite struck by the number of people who are very upset by what has happened. So I don’t think it is an option for Cambridge to just sweep this under the carpet and not take any action at all.”

Gopal said the university should not be “marking its own homework”, adding that the group of academics of which she is a part had suggested a mix of senior academics at Cambridge and elsewhere to conduct an investigation.

Cambridge said on Friday that it was “fully aware of the public commentary and concerns” and would “continue to investigate the circumstances around Jason Arday’s appointment and tenure”. A spokesperson declined to comment further.

It previously announced an investigation into “new information” about Arday’s academic qualifications and appointments on Wednesday, having already said it was looking into allegations of plagiarism.

Jesus College welcomed the appointments review, saying Arday’s role as fellow there had been “contingent on his university position”.

“We rely on the university to do checks on academic credentials for its appointments,” a spokeswoman added.

Accusations of plagiarism in Arday’s work were first voiced by Nathan Cofnas – a US researcher whose role at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash against his view that under a true meritocracy black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”.

He highlighted that plagiarism detection software had found several tracts of Arday’s PhD dissertation to be copied verbatim or lightly rephrased from prior academic works by other authors.

Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), which awarded Arday’s PhD, has said it investigated the allegations of plagiarism last year and dismissed them, saying they were likely the result of “honest and reasonable error”.

It told the BBC on Friday that its position remains unchanged in light of recent events and that his PhD “still stands”.

Cofnas also noted that a retired professor had previously raised concerns about Arday’s subsequent academic articles, which led to two journals issuing correction notes, and raised questions about some of his claimed achievements, including extensive marathon running and raising millions for charity.

Several universities at which Arday claimed on his CV to have had academic positions have since denied him having those roles.

The controversy has attracted a range of opinions, including within academia, about whether he had been scrutinised unfairly because of his race.

Arday has admitted errors in his work but denied plagiarism, saying his autism and a lack of adequate supervision early in his academic career may have contributed to those mistakes. He also denied lying about his achievements.

He said his decision to step down should not “be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”, which he has previously said were “racially motivated”.

Gopal said universities were “being targeted in particular by a lazy and false division between academic excellence and diversity and equality on campus”, which was “really part of culture wars rather than any part of university life”.

She and her colleagues found it “unusual” that Arday had been appointed to a “very senior, very prestigious” post early in his career – and that he had been put forward in the media with “frankly a bit of a target on his back”.

Gopal also said any investigation should review “whether the university was involved in any way or any level with efforts to deter journalists from reporting on the allegations”.

This came after it emerged the Metropolitan Police investigated Times Higher Education (THE) reporter Jack Grove over a complaint of harassment after he contacted Arday concerning allegations of plagiarism last year.

The Telegraph also reported that Arday hired law firm Carter-Ruck to send a letter to THE which implied that the “apparent attack” on Arday might be “racially motivated”.

The Met closed the case and Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley apologised for the investigation, telling LBC on Thursday that the complaint should have been “screened out earlier on as not requiring investigation”.