Jason Arday, Cambridge Professor Accused of Plagiarism, Is Found Dead
New York Times · LC · trust 56/100
Mr. Arday resigned last week after the university announced an investigation into allegations of plagiarism and fabrication.
Listen · 4:22 min Share full article The British sociologist Jason Arday in 2023, when the University of Cambridge hired him at 37, the youngest Black professor in its history. Credit... Graeme Robertson/Guardian and eyevine, via Redux By Mara Hvistendahl
“Jason was subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse” in the years since he accepted a role at Cambridge, his family wrote in a statement. “The campaign of misinformation was too much for Jason, who was a gentle man and who always wanted to see the best in everyone.”
The Metropolitan Police of London said that an ambulance was called on Friday afternoon to a South London residence connected to Mr. Arday after a report that a man there had been found unresponsive. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, the police said, without confirming his identity, in keeping with British police practice.
The death was being “treated as unexpected” but was not believed to be suspicious, the police said.
“We are desperately saddened to hear this tragic news,” Professor Deborah Prentice, the Cambridge vice-chancellor, said in a statement. “Our heartfelt sympathies go to Jason Arday’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.”
Mr. Arday, who was 41, grew up in a working-class quarter of South London, the child of Ghanaian immigrants. Early on, he was identified as having learning difficulties. He wrote in his memoir that he could not speak until age 11 and could not read until age 18, charting a remarkable trajectory from nonverbal preteen to Ph.D.
Mr. Arday, who had written and lectured on racism in higher education, became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023 when the university hired him for a prestigious post, an established chair of education at the school’s Jesus College.
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