Oriel College urged to cancel student group’s event with Jason Arday accuser

The University of Oxford’s Oriel College has been urged to cancel an event featuring Jason Arday’s accuser Nathan Cofnas that has been organised by student supporters of Reform UK.

Arday, 41, was found dead in August after resigning from his University of Cambridge professorship. He had faced intense media scrutiny after Cofnas made unproven accusations of plagiarism against him and said there were “serious questions” about his biographical claims.

Cofnas, a blogger and academic who has been accused of promoting pseudoscientific ideas of racial difference in his online writings, is expected to appear at an event called “An evening with Nathan Cofnas: Is DEI undermining higher education?” at Oriel’s Harris lecture theatre on 17 November.

The event has been organised by Oxon Universities’ Reform Society (OURS), a student group set up this year to support Reform UK.

Oxford campaign groups, British academics, members of the public and Oxford alumni have signed an open letter urging Oriel to “withdraw its facilities from the event”.

The signatories say the event “risks creating a hostile and exclusionary environment for students, particularly those of ethnic minorities” and “risks undermining Oriel’s role as a world-class educational institution” in 2026, the year of the 700th anniversary of its royal charter.

The letter accuses Cofnas of using his platform to assert discriminatory beliefs, and claims his blogging played a significant role in the coverage Arday faced.

Days before Arday’s death, Kehinde Andrews, the author and the UK’s first professor of Black studies, told the Guardian Arday was facing a “dedicated, coordinated smear campaign from the right, based on the premise that Black people should not be at Cambridge”.

Responding to news of the Oriel event, Andrews said in a post online that it was “despicable and disgusting”.

Oriel College said in a statement: “Oriel College is committed to upholding freedom of speech within the law and has a statutory duty to do so. This includes the freedom to express views that many find deeply offensive. We are also committed to promoting inclusion and maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of discrimination and harassment, including racial discrimination.

“The college considers events booked by students who are committee members of registered societies according to our code of practice on freedom of speech. When an event is permitted, this does not imply endorsement by the college of the views of its speakers.

“When considering booking requests, the college takes seriously the security implications of events and the safety of its members.”

In a post on X, OURS claimed: “Nathan Cofnas and the event organisers have been subjected to a disturbing torrent of online hostility.”

In a statement, OURS said that since it was a registered student society at the University of Oxford, constituent colleges “are under a legal obligation to host events like ours”.

It added: “The Reform Society is committed to hosting Nathan Cofnas, and allowing attendees at the event to engage in respectful dialogue with the same.

“We find it strange that the University of Oxford or any of its constituent colleges should receive reputational damage in respect of this event. The decision to host Nathan Cofnas was made solely by the committee of the Reform Society, and responsibility for the event rests exclusively with the same.”