Bro Ato should not rush to dismiss the anti-racism of bro Jason as 'insulting' to people like him. Racism is real in academia and someone struggling with autism may get it harder than others. In Cambridge, as Ato knows, there are no search committees. They have electors who vote to award professorships. When the electors voted to award an honorary doctorate to the great Derrida in the early 1990s, dozens of philosophers around the world signed an open letter to denounce him "In the eyes of philosophers, and certainly among those working in leading departments of philosophy throughout the world, M Derrida's work does not meet accepted standards of clarity and rigour.". Cambridge stuck to its guns and awarded the honorary degree.
In the case of Dr. Arday, the allegations of plagiarism were duly investigated by the awarding institution and the finding is that there was no evidence to support the allegations even though there are 'reasonable errors' in the dissertation. Bro Ato is right to defend academic standards but he was too quick to dismiss allegations of racism. Jason is neither Shakespeare, King, nor Derrida, but his work on Cool Britannia offers promise of great contributions to come.
I asked AI if great men from the past also faced plagiarism allegations and the answer is:
By modern academic standards, Shakespeare frequently borrowed plots, characters, and historical material from earlier writers. For example, many of his plays drew heavily on sources such as Holinshed's Chronicles, Plutarch's Lives, and earlier plays. However, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, this kind of borrowing was a normal literary practice and was generally not considered plagiarism in the modern sense. Shakespeare's originality was seen in how he transformed existing material through language, characterization, and dramatic structure.
So, most scholars would say:
- Shakespeare borrowed extensively, but
- He is not usually labeled a plagiarist by the standards of his time.
Martin Luther King Jr.
The situation is different. Researchers working on the King Papers Project at Stanford discovered that portions of King's doctoral dissertation and some academic papers contained unattributed material from other scholars. Boston University investigated and concluded that King had improperly used material without adequate citation. The university did not revoke his Ph.D., stating that the dissertation still made a significant scholarly contribution, but it formally acknowledged the citation problems. [en.wikipedia.org], [ebsco.com]
Most historians therefore agree that:
- Some of King's academic work contained plagiarism by modern academic standards. [en.wikipedia.org], [ebsco.com]
- This finding is separate from the significance of his leadership in the American civil rights movement. [en.wikipedia.org], [ebsco.com]
In short
- Shakespeare: Extensive borrowing, but generally not considered plagiarism in the context of Renaissance literary practices.
- Martin Luther King Jr.: Scholars and Boston University found genuine plagiarism in parts of his academic work, particularly his doctoral dissertation. [en.wikipedia.org], [ebsco.com]
This comparison also highlights an important historical point: what counts as plagiarism depends partly on the intellectual norms and citation practices of a particular era.
Biko
On Friday, 7 August 2026 at 01:34:57 GMT-4, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovadepojuifa@gmail.com> wrote:
Let me start by making a full disclosure: I am a Ghanaian who gained a PhD from the University of Cambridge and also taught for a decade on the English Faculty there before moving to North America.
There are many aspects of the Jason Arday story that I find deeply unsettling.
1. It is quite clear to me that Arday is a highly inventive fabulist. But whatever backstory to his life he has shared, whether it is running 600 miles in 6 days (revised to 12), not reading until being able to speak until he was 11 and to read until he was 18 and yet gaining a PhD by the age of 30, and running 30 marathons in 35 days, all share a common theme. Basically, it is that despite the incredible disadvantages he has faced all his life he is capable of unimaginable superhuman feats of grit and endurance. This theme has been central to his self-presentation from the start.
2. It is also clear that he was badly served by his mentors in all the institutions he has studied or worked at. Liverpool John Moores University is perhaps most culpable for not providing him with the proper guidance and supervision to help exorcise the plagiarist tendencies he exhibited in his dissertation and elsewhere. This should have been picked up early so that he could be set straight. Of course, some students are simply not subject to good advice, and this may have been the case with him. But if so, then he should not have been allowed to graduate with a PhD from the institution.
3. I wish this problem were only one for Liverpool John Moores, but unfortunately it is quite common. A comparable case is that of the disgraced Chris Spence, who was Director of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) from 2009-2013, when he admitted to having plagiarized several passages in a op-ed piece he co-wrote for the Toronto Star. The TDSB is the fourth largest school district in North America and carries substantial stray over educational policy in the Canadian province. It turns out that several passages of Spence’s 1996 PhD dissertation submitted to the University of Toronto had also been plagiarized. Clearly, something was seriously wrong with the system that granted him the doctorate. But in 2017, the university investigated the allegations and found him guilty of serious academic misconduct. They rescinded the degree. I suspect this laxness regarding the application of rigorous academic standards by mentors and supervisors is particularly common for students who happen to be black. The idea is that since they have made it so far through various woes and tribulations, that they should not be impeded by the standards applied to others. This is of course a complete insult and disservice to the many hardworking black students who have labored through our best educational institutions.
4. One wonders why the Cambridge University search process was not able to pick up the flaws in Arday’s profile. Clearly, they were enamored of the fairly tales Arday shared with them. So, there are serious questions to be answered regarding Cambridge’s usually reliable procedure for appointing people to professorships. But in this case it may come down not to failures of the search committee itself, but to weaknesses in the search process at Cambridge more broadly. At Stanford, where I am currently based, appointment to the position of Professor requires among other things the soliciting by the relevant department of at least 9 external referee letters for inclusion in the candidate’s dossier. Sometimes the number of letters tendered in support of a candidate can rise to 15. The effect of this large number is that it is unlikely any problems with a candidate’s career will not be picked up by one or more of the referees. And once it is picked up and reflected in a referee letter, the relevant department is obliged to make a careful response to the allegations and include these in the dossier for onward transmission to the Dean’s Appointments and Promotions Committee.
And presenting chairs are seriously questions about all aspects of the dossiers being submitted before a vote is taken on the suitability of the candidate. This is after the same process has already been had at the department level. Many searches have failed on the grounds of unsatisfactory responses to negative assessments from referees, sometimes seemingly minor but for Stanford’s university hiring system the sign of patterns suggestive of potential problems lurking for the future. It is good that after originally supporting him, Cambridge finally launched a thorough investigation of the accusations against Arday and that Arday himself decided to resign rather than face the ignominy of full exposure.
5. As for Arday’s own repeated defence of being the subject of racial hounding because of his academic achievements, I hope no serious person buys that ridiculous tripe. Accusations of plagiarism are a very serious matter among scholars and should not be taken lightly for any reason. And it is a serious insult to hardworking ethnic minorities and persons with disability to feel that they are being submitted to lower standards because of their neurodiversity or race. While Arday’s own case might be put down to sloppiness, given the extent of allegations he should also take full personal responsibility for not discovering and applying the rigorous scholarly standards required of both his discipline of educational sociology and of academia in general.
6. There are many lessons to be drawn from this sorry saga, not the least of which should be that the mentorship of rising scholars and academics is a very serious matter and should be undertaken by both individuals and university systems with all seriousness and diligence.
Fabulism indeed and slipping through the cracks in an intriguing way
This Ghanaman paaaa.
This Ghanaman paaaa.
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I wonder how generative AI will impact these discussions. It’s like we exist in two parallel universes with one space holding true to standards and the other fully embracing what amounts to cheating, in my opinion. Which side will win out?
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Thank you Ato for this thoughtful and balanced view. It really helps to understand this as a symptom of larger issues.
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Very sage account, Ato! I remember seeing the news of Arday’s hire and found him an impossibly interesting character even then. I agree with the comment by Jana about the pervasiveness of posturing, invented selves, Potemkin villages, fakes etc in our time. The story is disheartening, yet somehow symptomatic of many present ills.
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I said something similar under another post that his missed citations , and referencing errors doesn’t seem to be an accidental oversight , I’m in my PsyD program and the biggest complaints I see from doctoral students are always about their committees lengthy , and sometimes unclear editing process
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3. the claims about academic standard for blacks is is a complete reach and and I’d love to see your evidence other than this recency bias. I would be unsurprised if some critical research into the subject would suggest other wise.
5. Both can be true. His fraudulence doesn’t take away from the type of person who loudly pressed. But I agree with you for the most part.
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Now as a result of Arday's flowery story telling and allegations of plagiarism which.ought to be placed at the footsteps of Liverpool John Moores and his PhD Committee Supervisors, every right-wing media and racist platforms with their pseudo African supporters with low self-esteem about their own identity are attacking black excellence and academic capabilities. Instead of seeing Arday's issue as that of human nature or personal hubris and institutional supervisory negligence, African/black and liberal scholars are being accused of engaging in fake scholarship and their positions in academia are secured via Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Thank you, Prof Ato Quayson, for your erudite opinion on the matter.
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Very wise commentary, Ato. In my time up to retirement, I was external to a great number of doctorates. There was a general diminishment of standards that if it continues will eventually become a real problem,.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Ato, and also for being a supportive guide during and after my time at Cambridge. 
There is indeed much to think about here with respect to mentoring, identity, representation, mistakes, etc. Neurodiverse scholars of colour around the globe will no doubt be impacted by the fallout resulting from this very unfortunate case.
There is indeed much to think about here with respect to mentoring, identity, representation, mistakes, etc. Neurodiverse scholars of colour around the globe will no doubt be impacted by the fallout resulting from this very unfortunate case.
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I’m in the process today of composing my own thoughts about this very sad affair, which every senior scholar with a darker skin will pay a price for. 
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Richard Drayton junior scholars will pay a bigger price.
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I hear you and see you. I'm not disagreeing with the substance of what you're saying at all, but I'm just very frustrated with the double standard to which white scholars who were found to have plagiarized are held. Our university president, who is white, plagiarized parts of her dissertation, and yet, she is still president. She also called the State Police on students and faculty protesting peacefully in April 2024 and did many other nefarious things in the short time she has been here. https://www.ipm.org/news/2026-02-03/iu-president-whitten-accused-of-plagiarized-dissertation-iu-says-theres-no-merit
IU President Whitten accused of plagiarized dissertation, IU says there’s ‘no merit’
IU President Whitten accused of plagiarized dissertation, IU says there’s ‘no merit’
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This does not take away from the fact that fabulists and plagiarists abound of all races, genders, and abilities, and at all levels and walks of life in our current culture. Whether they are held to account or not is also a matter of concern. George Santos comes to mind and certain people in the highest possible position....
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This case has been so utterly confusing for outsiders like me...very conflicted feelings...thank you for providing this valuable perspective and analysis Prof. Quayson!
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Thank you for your reflections. I have not seen evidence nor investigation conclusions that verify the accusations so my speculation is that if the dissertation related accusations are true that another cause for insufficient mentoring and supervision by his committee could have been that he was working in department that did not have faculty in Africana Studies or his area of it to be familiar, literate enough in the literature to flag the problems or present enough as a knowledge worker on the job with their students to have flagged the problems. Oftentimes, our work isn't taken seriously enough by faculty mentors, supervisors, and peers for them to read and engage our work diligently.
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What worries me most about this is how it’s been picked up by media. We could all name a number of cases of people abusing the academic system for their own personal gain (and I’m by no means defending that). But how often do those cases (if they ever get revealed) reach media interest. The most worrying thing about this is how the media has latched onto the phrase ‘poster boy for XYZ’. That’s what makes it news. And that is seriously icky.
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Ashleigh Harris Exactly this. The investigation itself is legitimate and should run its course. What troubles me is what is already being built around it. The “poster boy” framing turns an individual academic misconduct case into something much bigger: an implied indictment of Black excellence, scholarship and the institutions that sought to address historic underrepresentation. We’re already seeing people like Matt Goodwin run with precisely that narrative. Whatever the investigation ultimately concludes about this individual, it cannot logically tell us whether Black academic excellence is genuine. Yet that is exactly the doubt some are already trying to seed.
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Thank you, Prof, for adding to this very important conversation.
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I haven't followed this sad saga, thanks for highlighting it and offering your perceptive reflections.
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... that he could have carried along so many on this fantastical charade for this duration...
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Please, this is some European and Caucasian alternate universe where the best candidates are traditionally ignored over the chosen candidates with enough skeletons for control, lesser pay and tokenism.
The UK producing 10 Prime Ministers in 10 years as it was in the failed state of Italy before Meloni [pardon my fabulism] is epitome of a dying civilisation where the immediate past Prime Minister should be imprisoned.
Oxford, Cambridge, European University Institute: all shit [pardon my French] because the entire academia is currently a collection of occultic and pretentious wankers mostly engaged in sex work to survive the global economy meltdown.
Universities in 2026 are a fucking waste of time populated by people producing useless research in a world where AI beats most originality.
He's not the problem. Just a symptom. Ask most donor agencies in love with "stories" over competence.
You're all sick in the head.
Consider the Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize brouhaha, Pedophiles running LinkedIn, Trump is President again!
Zero accountability across all sectors in the world. Why should the corruption escape universities? Do social workers, students and politicians fall from Andromeda? Yea are all guilty of the same shit in different ways.
Praise be!!!
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Plagiarism cancels out any future work in research and education. It’s the basic test of capacity and integrity.
Such characters often take to sensationalism to make up for their deficits.
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This is tragic in all respects. It was plainly obvious from the start that his story could not be true. Shame on the universities involved for wanting to believe the unbelievable for so long, and not exercising proper faculties. Simply promoting him to a full professorship on the basis of such a poor academic record, and lavishing him with honorary doctorates, is beyond belief. The fallout will be terrible not only for this poor young man but also for emergent Black or neurodivergent scholars.
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Thank you for chiming in; I was hoping you would. These are also my conclusions and impressions about this sad story, especially the tendency to lower expectations for black and other underprivileged students. This is insulting to them and ill serves our society. And the need for rigorous vetting of appointments is also critical and so often does not happen, even if most institutions cannot hope for 9-15 letters. I will refrain from saying more. Thank you for your mentorship at Cambridge and over the years.
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I was waiting patiently to hear your thoughts on this very sad story. And you're spot on. Thanks Prof
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I think I'm in the same furrow as you are here. https://timothyburke.substack.com/p/academia-fabulists-and-safeguards
Academia: Fabulists and Safeguards
Academia: Fabulists and Safeguards
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Well said Prof.
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A brilliant piece
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Mental health issues
He’s not correct
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences! They resonate!
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Wow! Fifteen letters of reference just to get an entry level academic job? No wonder why us first-gen minorites can't get a job in academia, let alone tenure!
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F.E. Guerra-Pujol, not an entry-level job, just to be promoted to a full professorship, as in Jason Arday's case. An entry-level job requires only three references.
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You are spot on.
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Arday received his PhD in 2015, and held academic posts at the University of Roehampton, Durham University, and the University of Glasgow before he was appointed Professor of Sociology of Education at Cambridge in 2023. Therefore, between 2015 and 2023, he held 3 academic posts-- an exceedigly rapid transit between institutions. It is customary for institutions to hold a third-year review of newly appointed academics. Given his rapid transit, was he even subjected to a third-year review at any of the places that employed him?
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Kenneth Surin It's not clear that he held a post at Glasgow, unfortunately. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26433564.glasgow-university-denies-jason-arday-visiting-prof-claim/
Glasgow University: Jason Arday was 'never a visiting professor here'
Glasgow University: Jason Arday was 'never a visiting professor here'
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Indeed, accusations of plagiarism are a very serious matter among scholars and should not be taken lightly for any reason, whether it is from our own African/Black/Minority Communities or Caucasian circles. We must not lower the standards! There are so many such characters parading around with accolades and titles that they haven't truly earned. I blame the universities for not doing a thorough enough job in the hiring process.
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More of this story Jaz Wilch
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Jay Williams the more I learn about this story, the more I think this was a setup. I feel like there's a reason people like this get put on pedestals (and then swiftly exposed). There's no way that no one in the PhD process picked up that ya boy was lil off.
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Jay Williams also, see the posts about the man that went on this crusade to expose him in the first place. His work has been criticized as racist and argues that things like intelligence are racially based traits.
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