The vice chancellor of Cambridge University has announced an investigation into the faculty that appointed ‘Professor Plagiarism’ Jason Arday.
Professor Deborah Prentice said his ‘damaging and difficult case’ had provoked ‘anger and anxiety’ across the university.
In her first public statement on the matter, she said the beleaguered Faculty of Education would be put under investigation for why they appointed him.
And she claimed the case was an ‘aberration and should not be used to cast aspersions on their work or the legitimacy of their roles at Cambridge’.
This morning, the faculty had put their website into lockdown – with a previously public page about its lecturers now made private.
Cambridge initiated a more general investigation last week after fellow academics accused Mr Arday of copying others’ work and inventing some previous academic posts.
He resigned from his post, saying the ‘personal cost’ of the furore had been ‘too great’, and cancelled a series of events to promote his upcoming memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things.
In her statement today, Professor Prentice said: ‘I fully understand the concerns being raised across the University and well beyond it, regarding Jason Arday’s appointment and I share them. I know there is anger and anxiety around this damaging and difficult case.
Professor Jason Arday became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023 aged 37
‘We will now investigate the circumstances around his appointment by the Faculty of Education back in 2022 and his time here in Cambridge since his appointment nearly four years ago.
‘That investigation, as you say, should be thorough and transparent, and will be carried out independently by senior academics from within and beyond Cambridge.
‘It will take time for this work to be done thoroughly, as you will understand, but the work must begin as soon as possible.’
She said that the findings of the investigation will ‘inform’ a new ‘review’ of the process for appointing senior academics.
‘As you are fully aware, appointments to senior academic roles, as in the case of the Faculty of Education and Jason Arday, are currently led at Department level,’ she added.
Her statement comes after the Faculty of Education removed its ‘our people’ page from public view following the furore.
The page originally had been available to the public, and listed the department’s senior academics with biographies and lists of their work.
Yesterday The Spectator claimed one of Mr Arday’s faculty colleagues, Dr Farah Ahmed, had historic links to the extreme group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was banned in the UK in 2024.
She had written a chapter for a pamphlet published by the group in 2002, in which she attacked ‘western education’ as a ‘threat’ to Muslims. However, she later said in 2010 she was not a member and did not agree with many of their views.
Professor Prentice said in her statement this morning that she was ‘committed’ to maintaining the ‘highest standards of academic excellence’.
And she said: ‘In light of the focus on this troubling case and the widespread commentary around it, I want to be very clear that we do not need the outcomes of an investigation to clearly and loudly affirm that our staff of colour are highly valued, for their scholarship, their achievements, and the contributions they make to the institution and the wider academic community.
‘This particular case is an aberration and should not be used to cast aspersions on their work or the legitimacy of their roles at Cambridge.’
And she said that while she understood the ‘desire for quick answers’, the reviewers needed time to complete their work effectively so the university can ‘learn from its mistakes’.
