Cambridge to review hiring process amid plagiarism row

The University of Cambridge said that it would be reviewing its hiring process for senior roles as it probes claims of plagiarism by a professor who resigned this week.

Jason Arday, who made headlines when appointed as Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023, resigned Wednesday after the university announced a probe into snowballing claims he plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis.

The university in an update said that "regardless of" Mr Arday's resignation, it would "continue to investigate the circumstances around (his) appointment and tenure".

"The findings will feed into a review of the process for the appointment of senior academic roles," it added.

Mr Arday had announced that he was resigning with immediate effect both from his university post as professor of sociology of education and as a fellow of Jesus College.

In a letter posted online, he said quitting was "the only way" to end a "difficult period", but insisted the decision should not be "mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me".

The university had previously defended Mr Arday but said Wednesday its probe was prompted by "new information", without specifying.

Jesus College said separately that it was launching its own probe.

The college's head, Sonita Alleyne, the first black head of an Oxbridge college, has removed her name from a petition defending Mr Arday.

Senior dons at Cambridge are understood to be circulating a letter calling for an inquiry into the processes around his appointment, according to the Guardian.

The scandal has been seized upon by right-wing newspapers and commentators, who have labelled Mr Arday as a "poster boy" for diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Further questions were asked in the press about the truth of other claims made by the professor of sociology of education, who became Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023, including saying that he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.

The Times newspaper has recently published several investigative articles into Mr Arday's academic work and personal life.

In an interview with the newspaper, Mr Arday admitted to "mistakes" in his academic work, but said he was being wrongly "portrayed to be a liar and a fantasist and an academic fraud".

He also alleged the "campaign to unseat me from my position" was "racially motivated".

Plagiarism claims against Mr Arday were first made in July by Nathan Cofnas, a US academic and self-defined "race realist" whose research affiliation with a Cambridge college was terminated in 2024 amid racism accusations.

In the wake of Mr Arday's resignation, academics said his case will provide those who condemn diversity and equality initiatives with a "weapon" and put off other black scholars from the field.

Alan Lester, professor of historical geography at the University of Sussex, said: "The tragedy is that this case now provides the far-right racists who condemn any equalities and diversity initiatives with a weapon that they will wield egregiously."

Kehinde Andrews, who was until recently professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, told Sky News: "No one’s handing out favours to black people in higher education, and that idea is deeply dangerous and deeply racist.

"There is a whole campaign to get more black professors in, but the experiences that we have tend to be horrendous and it does put people off from trying to even get into these places in the first place."

The Metropolitan Police has drawn criticism in the furore over an investigation into a claim of harassment made against a Times Higher Education journalist who emailed Prof Arday with questions some months ago.

Commissioner Mark Rowley told LBC that the force "dropped the ball on that one" and the report should have been "screened out earlier as not requiring investigation".

Additional reporting: PA