# Is anyone else following this bizarre Jason Arday story out of Cambridge University? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 11, 2026, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289 "2026-08-11T02:18:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/121 "2026-08-15T14:07:00Z")
I do not think anybody is denying that Arday was a fraudulent sleaze, and that it rightfully caught up with him, but it should end with going after his career, not calling him up with death threats or whatever it was that made him kill himself. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/122 "2026-08-15T14:27:51Z")
I’m curious: how was he as a teacher? What was his research, and did he contribute meaningfully to his field? ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/123 "2026-08-15T14:30:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It seems to have been forgotten that a journalist for Times Higher Education doing his job, was the target of a four-month police investigation that Arday initiated. Arday also hired a high-powered law firm to intimidate the publication into dropping their planned story. So he deserved to die? I’m not saying he was a saint. I’m saying he already got a punishment that fit his crime. Cheering his death seems cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/124 "2026-08-15T14:45:17Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > Yes. 43 marathons in 51 days. And that starting from being badly out of shape. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/125 "2026-08-15T14:51:24Z")
What a ridiculous response. The point being addressed was that “hounding” was a two-way street, in particular complaining to the police about “harassment” by a reporter who e-mailed him questions, and getting [Carter-Ruck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter-Ruck) to go after _Times Higher Education_ to suppress a story about Arday, which seems to be part of a pattern for that law firm. > [@](#): > > Carter-Ruck has been criticised for using intimidating and threatening tactics against journalists, government officials, and citizens to support the interests of their clients.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter-Ruck#cite_note-5)[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter-Ruck#cite_note-6)[[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter-Ruck#cite_note-7)[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter-Ruck#cite_note-:1-8) In 2022, a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee recommended that six Carter-Ruck lawyers be banned from entering the United States because of their ongoing work on behalf of Russian oligarchs. Carter-Ruck is also notorious for representing the Church of Scientology. That does put a crimp in the narrative that Arday was a poor friendless victim of tabloid frenzy. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/126 "2026-08-15T15:16:13Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > That does put a crimp in the narrative that Arday was a poor friendless victim of tabloid frenzy. …this sort of coverage would explain why he killed himself. > > > The Spectator @spectator You don’t seem to understand how vicious the British Tabloid press is. > > [@](#): > > The Times and The Sunday Times published about 44 articles about Professor Jason Arday. > > The Telegraph published 43. > > The Daily Mail published about 38. > > The Independent published 24. > > The Spectator published around 21. > > The Guardian published about 19. > > The Daily Express published more than 10. > > The Sun published 9. Over a hundred articles in two weeks because of _this_? This utterly outside-of-academia non-story? Those articles in turn drive both online and real-life hate campaigns. It wasn’t just about a “reporter asking him questions.” What choice do you think he had? Do you really think this was a case of “hounding being a two way street?” Because that wasn’t what happened. In the meantime, people like Farage and Rowling get away with fucking murder, and they get ignored. Because the British tabloid press are fucking arseholes who have blood on their hands. Not just Arday. This has been going on for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/127 "2026-08-15T15:47:32Z")
One of the folks who was instrumental in this whole ordeal was Nathan Confas, who is an out and out racist apparently bitter at his own ouster. Whatever you may think of Arday, we can’t really view this tragic outcome in isolation of the larger political context. > **[‘Race-realist’ fellow Nathan Cofnas launches legal challenge over dismissal](https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/28014)** > > The philosophy fellow has claimed the college 'did not have the authority' to cut ties with him [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/17/nathan-cofnas-end-the-tyranny-of-wokeism-cambridge/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/17/nathan-cofnas-end-the-tyranny-of-wokeism-cambridge/) ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/128 "2026-08-15T15:48:26Z")
> ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/129 "2026-08-15T16:03:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > What a ridiculous response. > > The point being addressed was that “hounding” was a two-way street The post you replied to said this: > He plagiarized. He made up stuff about himself. He lost his job. Fine, that’s an appropriate punishment. Hounding him to suicide was not. So saying that in reply to this post is clearly an attempt at _tu quoque_, acting like it’s okay to hound a guy to suicide because one of the reporters also faced backlash. Refuting that is entirely valid. One does not make the other okay. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/130 "2026-08-15T16:10:40Z")
Wow, that Cofnas guy sure sounds like a fine human gentleman … Congrats, dude, on succesfully destroying someone as payback for your own grievance. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/131 "2026-08-15T16:12:55Z")
To get un-dismissed, does he not risk having his sketchy racist scholarship subject to fine-combed scrutiny? Is he that confident in the rigor of his methods (he should not be)? Or was he sacked for moral turpitude? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/132 "2026-08-15T16:16:14Z")
Um, no. It was a reply to the “hounding” claim. Perfectly legitimate to note that Arday was engaging in “hounding” himself. One might wonder how much the media response was due to targeting of \*Times Higher Education and its reporter (other journalists tend to react negatively to that sort of thing), and the stubborn denials of impropriety by Arday and Cambridge (which called revelations about him “vile” and inaccurate, before later retreating). As many other such scandals have showed, it’s not the initial offense, but the coverup that gets you. Coming clean in the beginning would’ve prevented much of the negative publicity. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/133 "2026-08-15T16:19:06Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It was a reply to the “hounding” claim. I said “hounding to _suicide_”. Not just “hounding”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/134 "2026-08-15T16:34:16Z")
Not that any sort of hounding is a great idea. Arday’s suicide is a tragedy. It’s very clear from this whole thing that there are several major cornerstones who bear the blame: Arday himself, as he clearly did wrong Racism, in academia and in general, because that’s probably a factor in having Arday’s psychological issues go untreated for so long, and in both the rapid promotion and the hounding. Academia, for not doing its job in vetting properly; for not identifying the psychological issues once Arday was a student / hired and getting him some help; for being so fucking racist; for some of the incredibly unrealistic work expectations detailed above that prevent people from having the time to do these more nebulous yet important parts of the job. Tabloid media and the resultant hounding and public shaming, which help no one but the coffers of the tabloids. ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/135 "2026-08-15T16:35:01Z")
I don’t know. But his plan seems to be bigger than getting un-dismissed. He says he wants to start a revolution (and then become head of a department of eugenics and race science at Harvard). ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/136 "2026-08-15T16:44:18Z")
Here’s a different Cambridge professor who was credibly accused of plagiarism, but who did not lose his job _or_ get relentlessly hounded by the media. (For the record, I do not think this guy deserves to be hounded to death, either. But it’s hard to believe that justice has been served in either case) > **[Plagiarising professor stays in post and threatens student journalists](https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/26105)** > > More than twelve pages of an article published under O’Reilly's name had been lifted almost word for word from two essays by one of his students ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/137 "2026-08-15T17:45:36Z")
Has it been confirmed that Arday committed suicide? I find lots of articles quoting the official police statement, but is there official confirmation of _suicide_? I can’t find any. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/138 "2026-08-15T18:05:35Z")
Yes, but that professor wasn’t as famous as Arday was before the plagiarism broke. Also, his claims of his life (outside of his research) weren’t as wild either - O’Reilly didn’t claim to have cancer, run 30 marathons in 35 days, be in a coma for months, be mute, etc. - hence why he got less attention. ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/139 "2026-08-15T18:08:27Z")
I can think of at least one other significant difference. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289/140 "2026-08-15T18:33:24Z")
Yeah, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-anyone-else-following-this-bizarre-jason-arday-story-out-of-cambridge-university/1032289.md?page=8)