Jason Arday, the ex-Cambridge professor at the center of a plagiarism and hiring controversy, was found dead August 14. He was 41 years old.
Arday was accused of exaggerating aspects of his life and achievements, gaining a prominent professorship at a prestigious university. Instances of his alleged plagiarism were first made public by Nathan Cofnas, a self-identified race realist who was terminated after writing in a blog post that if society brought back meritocracy, “Blacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.” Arday was Black and, for a few moments, held one of the most prestigious academic positions in the world.
Since these allegations were made public, Arday has been the subject of features in The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC, and The New York Times. Nearly all of them have raised questions about Arday’s qualifications, his trustworthiness, and the closed-door hiring processes of elite universities. But at the end of the day, well, I’ll let Arday finish my thought:
