Professor Jason Arday Found Dead in Battersea Property
Metropolitan Police confirm death not suspicious amid ongoing scrutiny of academic's career and plagiarism allegations.
Carla Rooney
Professor Jason Arday was pronounced dead on Friday after emergency services responded to reports of an unresponsive man in Battersea.
Professor Arday's 2023 appointment as Cambridge's youngest ever black professor at 37 was hailed as a progressive moment; the University of Cambridge is understood to be conducting an independent review of its appointment processes.
Professor Arday resigned from his position following media reports alleging plagiarism in his PhD thesis and other research, despite an investigation at Liverpool John Moores University having previously cleared him of wrongdoing regarding these allegations.
Jason Arday's family stated, "We are in shock to have lost this amazing father, partner, brother, uncle and son," claiming he was subjected to a "campaign of misinformation" that proved too much for him.
An unacceptable public hounding and campaign of abuse.
Sir Sadiq Khan claims Professor Arday faced "an unacceptable public hounding and campaign of abuse," becoming a victim of "a pernicious public shaming that other people in his position simply wouldn't have faced."
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen stated Professor Arday had experienced what he described as a campaign against him for the last three years, adding, "they've destroyed my life."
Professor Baron-Cohen explained, "He was being subjected to relentless scrutiny, including ridicule, discrediting absolutely every detail of his life, and he wasn’t coping with the loss of his career, the loss of his reputation, and he felt he couldn’t go on."
He confirmed Professor Arday "used those words in voice notes," and that "yesterday morning, his last voice note was that he just couldn’t go on."
Professor Baron-Cohen highlighted that "at the heart of all of this was a man who’d been diagnosed in childhood with disabilities that included autism and language delay and learning differences."
He asserted, "He was a vulnerable child, a vulnerable teenager, and a vulnerable adult, so he needed and deserved safeguarding and support and reasonable adjustment every step of the way."
Professor Baron-Cohen also claimed "Jason was being used as almost like a lightning rod to examine this policy of DEI, and Jason was bombarded by every media outlet to paint him as a fraud."
He observed, "In the last 10 days, I’ve witnessed his mental health getting worse and worse, as the media didn’t stop ridiculing him, humiliating him, discrediting him."
Daniel Kebede stated Professor Arday had been subjected to "a public and brutal takedown that unleashed a tirade of racism," adding, "I don’t believe this was ever simply about ‘professional conduct’ or ‘plagiarism’."
There is a profound difference between scrutiny and a sustained public campaign that turns an individual into a symbol of everything the right believes is wrong with DEI. The effect has been chilling. It tells black people and others from underrepresented backgrounds that entering prominent public positions will make you a target, not only for criticism of your work, but for a much broader political and cultural backlash.
Kebede further explained, "There is a profound difference between scrutiny and a sustained public campaign that turns an individual into a symbol of everything the right believes is wrong with DEI."
He warned, "The effect has been chilling. It tells black people and others from underrepresented backgrounds that entering prominent public positions will make you a target."
This targeting, Kebede concluded, is "not only for criticism of your work, but for a much broader political and cultural backlash."
Professor Arday had previously claimed he ran 600 miles in six days and raised £5.5 million for charity; Sir James Cleverly claims a number of people at a number of academic institutions have serious questions to answer.
Professor Baron-Cohen called for accountability, stating, "We need to let the investigations proceed, we need to understand how this tragedy has happened, but there has to be accountability at lots of levels."
Sir Sadiq Khan stated, "His death was a tragedy, but once again it should be a wake up call for all of us."
Professor Arday's publisher, Simon & Schuster UK, had scheduled his memoir, _Great And Unfortunate Things_, for publication on August 27.