Just yesterday the NY Times was whitewashing the Jason Arday story and I was complaining that their readers would eventually be surprised to learn about all the evidence he's a serial fabulist. Here we are a day later and I guess they're going to find out even quicker than I expected. Today, Arday resigned from his position at Cambridge.
The University of Cambridge professor at the centre of a plagiarism row has resigned "with immediate effect".
Prof Jason Arday said he had "concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away".
Earlier, the university said it had launched an investigation "following new information" about Arday's "academic qualifications and honorary appointments".
I pointed out yesterday that two different universities had contradicted claims made by Arday that he was a visiting professor at those schools.
On the Cambridge Faculty of Education page he claims to be a visiting professor in Glasgow’s School of Education. However, this has been denied by a university spokesman, who said: “I can confirm that Professor Arday isn’t a visiting professor at the University of Glasgow.”
When asked if he had ever held that position, the spokesman told The Herald that Arday “was never a visiting professor here”
Ohio State University said the same:
On the Cambridge Faculty of Education page, he claims to be a visiting professor at the US university in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
However, a university spokesman said they had “no record of an employee by that name” and that “visiting professors appear in our employment records”.
There was a third school involved as well. Nelson Mandela University clarified that Arday was an adjunct professor but not a visiting professor as he'd apparently claimed. On top of that, the Telegraph had also revealed that a book he'd claimed to be the author of was never published.
Prof Arday repeatedly claimed that he was the author of a book called Being Young, Black and Male: Challenging the Dominant Discourse, which was said to explore stereotypes about black masculinity.
The book was listed in his biography description in published essays as well as promotional material for speaking events, and was attributed to the Palgrave Macmillan publishing house.
In reality, it never made it to the shelves and was abandoned by the publisher several years ago.
So all of those loose ends, none of which were mentioned yesterday by the NY Times, led Cambridge to open an investigation.
The University of Cambridge has begun an investigation following new information about Professor Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments. In order to ensure a fair process, we will not comment further until this has concluded.
Separately, there remains a number of ongoing complaints regarding academic misconduct, which are being handled in line with our Misconduct in Research policy. This is consistent with our previous statement on the matter.
The college within Cambridge where Arday works also announced it would be pursuing a parallel investigation. And those dual investigations may have been the writing on the wall that led Arday to resign.
There's no apology or admission of wrongdoing here, just a memo positioning himself as a victim of too many intrusive questions.
Dear colleagues,
It is with profound sadness that I write to resign, with immediate effect, from my position at the University of Cambridge and Jesus College.
When I accepted the extraordinary honour of becoming Professor of Sociology at Cambridge, it was, without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life. To become the youngest Black professor in the University’s history was something I could scarcely have imagined as a child growing up with a diagnosis of autism, unable to speak until I was eleven years old...
Sadly, the years since my appointment have also been marked by an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack. 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.
I have tried to continue because I believe deeply in the values of higher education, in rigorous scholarship, and in the transformative power of universities. I have tried because of my students, my colleagues and the countless people who have written to tell me that my journey gave them hope.
But there comes a point when the personal cost becomes too great.
I have a family. I want to be present for them. I want to reclaim some peace, some privacy and some semblance of an ordinary life. I no longer wish to feel as though I am living under a constant spotlight, where every aspect of my life is subject to public examination and judgement...
I need time to heal. I need time to simply be myself again.
And when that time comes, I will return...
For now, however, I ask only for understanding, for compassion, and for the space to begin again.
With gratitude,
Professor Jason Arday
I'm not sure you get a do-over at Cambridge, especially not when you're found to be making things up routinely. But it has been clear (at least to me) that Cambridge had no real interest in pursuing these allegations. They were circling the wagons over the plagiarism allegations and hoping the whole thing would go away. Now this resignation gives them another chance to drop any real investigation and move on before they actually have to take a stand and admit Arday's appointment was a mistake.
Meanwhile, his autobiography is set to be released in six days. Will it get pulled? Heavily revised with a surprise ending? For the moment no one is saying one way or the other.
A representative of Simon & Schuster, which has so far stood by the book, told The New York Times on Wednesday that the publisher had no comment beyond the statement about Arday it released last week, citing “the professionalism and integrity he has brought to every stage of the publication.”
Simon & Schuster ought to be shredding these into pulp but will they? Stand by to find out.
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