Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended from university

An academic who made plagiarism allegations against Professor Jason Arday before his death has been suspended by a university.

Prof Arday resigned from his role at the University of Cambridge this month after he faced intense scrutiny over accusations of plagiarism initially made by fellow academic Nathan Cofnas.

Mr Cofnas, who claims he advocates for “race realism”, is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University’s department of philosophy and moral sciences, according to his website.

In a post on X on Thursday, he said: “I am under investigation by my university for discriminating against Arday.”

In a separate post, Mr Cofnas added: “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me.”

Ghent University confirmed his suspension after saying Prof Arday’s death “should prompt reflection”, adding that the institution “opposes discrimination, hatred and racism”.

The Belgian university said that while it supported academic freedom and open academic debate, “that freedom is not unlimited” and goes “hand in hand with responsibility” as it announced it was taking unspecified action regarding Mr Cofnas.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, Ghent University rector Petra De Sutter and vice-rector Herwig Reynaert said: “Ghent University stands for respect for human dignity and opposes discrimination, hatred and racism.

“We attach great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited.

“It goes hand in hand with responsibility and may be restricted in order to protect the rights of others.

“For this reason, the university takes the recent public statements made by a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University regarding this matter very seriously.

“Ghent University has decided to take appropriate action within its powers and the applicable framework.”

The rector and vice-rector said that while it was “important to be transparent”, they did not want to “pre-empt any potential decisions at this stage”.

They said Ghent had been “shocked” by Prof Arday’s death and that their thoughts remain with his family, friends, colleagues and students.

In an update on Thursday, a spokesperson for Ghent said: “Ghent University formally notified the staff member concerned of the launch of a preliminary disciplinary investigation.

“As part of this process, the university is assessing whether there are sufficient grounds to refer the case to the competent disciplinary body for further consideration.

“Pending this preliminary investigation, Ghent University has suspended the staff member as a precautionary measure.

“The university cannot comment further on the specific details of the disciplinary case or the underlying arguments, in order to safeguard the confidentiality of the personnel file and the disciplinary proceedings.”

Prof Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, was found dead in Battersea, south London, on Friday.

Earlier this week, organisers said more than 30,000 people had attended a vigil for the 41-year-old in Trafalgar Square, central London.

Speakers at the vigil criticised the press coverage of Prof Arday, with MP Diane Abbott saying he was subject of a “vicious” and “bitter” campaign by people who did not believe a black man should be a Cambridge professor – and Lord Woolley describing the press coverage of Prof Arday as a “public execution” and a “lynching”.