Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor at centre of plagiarism scandal, found dead

LONDON, England — Black British academic Jason Arday, who resigned from the University of Cambridge last week amid a high-profile plagiarism storm that featured racism claims, was found dead Friday, U.K. media outlets reported.

Arday, 41, died after being found unresponsive at an address in south London on Friday afternoon, Sky News and other media said, citing a statement from the capital’s Metropolitan Police Service.

The scandal erupted after some academics and media reports accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, of plagiarizing parts of his doctoral thesis.

Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The allegations have been seized on by British right-wing newspapers and commentators, who claim that he unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.

Arday resigned from his Cambridge posts on August 5, shortly after the prestigious British institution announced a probe into the various accusations against him.

In a letter posted online, he said that quitting was “the only way” to end a “difficult period”, but insisted the decision should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me.”

The university’s top administrator on Wednesday had called Arday’s alleged wrongdoing “an aberration” and vowed a thorough investigation, while insisting it should not be used “to cast aspersions” on other academics from ethnic minority backgrounds.

His memoir — “Great and Unfortunate Things” — had been published in the United States the previous day, ahead of its planned release in Britain later this month. It has also attracted scrutiny.

A statement issued by London’s Metropolitan Police late Friday did not confirm the dead man’s identity.