Jason Arday is the youngest black person to be appointed a professor at the University of Cambridge. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Jason Arday is the youngest black person to be appointed a professor at the University of Cambridge. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian University of Cambridge Cambridge professor Jason Arday resigns amid accusations of plagiarism Sociology professor to stand down after university announces investigation into his qualifications and career
Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: the claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor
Prefer the Guardian on Google Jason Arday, the Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism and embellishment, has resigned after the university announced he was to face new investigations into his qualifications and career.
Arday, who had been dogged by a growing series of questions over his academic work and credentials, issued a statement on Wednesday night, saying the “relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love”.
In the statement, published on the Good Law Project website, he wrote: “It is with profound sadness that I write to resign, with immediate effect, from my position at the University of Cambridge and Jesus College.
“When I accepted the extraordinary honour of becoming professor of sociology at Cambridge, it was, without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life.”
Read more However, after days of detailed scrutiny of his previous work and statements, which highlighted apparent discrepancies, Arday said he had “concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.
Simon & Schuster had been preparing to publish Arday’s memoir, entitled Great and Unfortunate Things, later this month. His resignation may pause or even halt its publication and planned publicity tours.
Cambridge had initially defended Arday – the youngest black professor appointed in the university’s history, with a compelling life story of educational disadvantage – as “the victim of a vile campaign”. But as questions multiplied over Arday’s own claims, the university’s leaders felt that Cambridge’s reputation was in danger.
The Guardian published its own investigation uncovering discrepancies in Arday’s public accounts involving prodigious fundraising feats as well as claims he had been targeted by knife-wielding masked intruders.
Arday first faced allegations that he plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis and other academic research late last year, and has rejected the claims. An investigation by Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded his PhD in 2015, did not uphold the charges of plagiarism but said they were probably caused by “honest and reasonable error”.
Arday has denied all accusations of plagarism, telling the Guardian last week: “There have been multiple thorough investigations across several institutions as a result of the allegations, and immense scrutiny, including with an academic misconduct panel who concluded that there was no plagiarism or academic misconduct.”
On Wednesday evening, Cambridge announced it would launch an investigation after it said it received “new information” about his qualifications and career.
It said in a statement: “The University of Cambridge has begun an investigation following new information about Prof Arday’s academic qualifications and honorary appointments. In order to ensure a fair process, we wi…