The first person to accuse Jason Arday of plagiarism was a former Cambridge professor dismissed over his racist views.

The first person to accuse Jason Arday of plagiarism was a former Cambridge professor dismissed over his racist views. He’s still working in higher education. Photo: Cambridge University In 2023, Arday became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in its 800+ year history. Nathan Cofnas attacked him as a "DEI" hire and called him "not smart" enough to be a Cambridge professor. Photo: Cambridge University Cofnas was dismissed from Cambridge in 2024 over his false claims that intelligence is linked to race. He claimed that in a "colorblind" system, Black academics "would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sport and entertainment." Photo: Nathan Cofnas (PhilPeople) 58 students made formal complaints that Cofnas was pushing "the logic of a eugenicist." He was only removed after 1,200 students and professors signed a petition. Photo: @nathancofnas Despite his white supremacist views, Cofnas has since been given a postdoctoral research position at Belgium's Ghent University. Following Cofnas’ accusations against Arday, the UK media published nearly 250 articles questioning Arday’s achievements. When Cambridge professor William O’Reilly was guilty of plagiarism in 2023, only 1 newspaper covered it. Source: NewsCord Arday resigned on Aug. 5, saying the media campaign against him had taken a "heavy toll." He was found dead 2 weeks later. He was 41. "Many academics are accused of plagiarism. Why did this become such a story? It is because people like Cofnas simply don’t believe that Black people deserve to be professors at all. They don’t think they’re capable." - Kehinde Andrews Black Studies Professor to The Observer