A Top Scholar’s Fall Shows That Universities Don’t Get It
It’s easy to see how Jason Arday held on to his University of Cambridge professorship until Wednesday, despite facing significant accusations of plagiarism and dishonesty for years. After all, his story fit quite neatly into certain culture war grooves.
On one side was a scholar born to working-class immigrant parents in South London public housing who rose to become the youngest Black professor in the university’s 800-plus-year history. On the other were the forces of reaction, seeming to target him as part of a wide-ranging attack on tolerance and progress. In many academic circles, he was clearly the good guy.
Then, soon after Cambridge volte-faced from its longstanding insistence that there was nothing to see here, and announced its own investigation into Mr. Arday, he swiftly responded with an announcement of his own: He would resign.
