Nathan Cofnas, the academic who accused Professor Jason Arday of plagiarism before his death, has been suspended by a university. Arday, 41, resigned from his position at Cambridge University this month after coverage of Cofnas’ plagiarism allegations. The allegations, which were not proven in any formal investigation, raised questions about Arday’s accomplishments. There has been harsh criticism of Cambridge for its handling of the matter, but also of some media coverage. University President Chris Smith described it as a “racist frenzy.” Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, was found dead in Battersea, south London, on Friday. Tributes to Jason Arday have been left outside Senate House in Cambridge this week. Photograph: Chris Radburn/AFP/Getty Images “American anti-woke” blogger Cofnas is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of philosophy and moral sciences at Ghent University, according to his website. In a post on X on Thursday, Cofnas said: “My university is investigating me for discriminating against Arday.” He added in a separate post: “I have just been suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me.” Ghent University confirmed his suspension after saying they were “shocked” by Arday’s death and that it “should provoke reflection,” adding that the institution “opposes discrimination, hatred and racism.” open academic debate, even when opinions are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited. “It goes hand in hand with liability and can be restricted to protect the rights of others. For this reason, the university takes very seriously the recent public statements made by a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University on this matter. “Ghent University has decided to take appropriate measures within its powers and in the applicable framework.”skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | Every day Subscribe to Headlines UK Receive the day’s headlines and highlights directly by email every day mornings after the newsletter was promoted. The rector and vice-chancellor said that while it was “important to be transparent”, they did not want to “pre-empt any possible decisions at this stage”. reasons for referring the case to the competent disciplinary body for further consideration. Pending this preliminary investigation, Ghent University has suspended the staff member as a precaution.” Earlier this week, organizers said more than 30,000 people had attended a vigil in Arday’s honor in Trafalgar Square, central London. “Black people would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sport and entertainment.” In an article titled “Don’t scapegoat women,” published in January this year, Cofnas claimed that “Women, but not men, can get people fired by pointing and crying.” He added: “To meet de facto quotas, employers have had to dig deeper into the pool of less qualified candidates. For obvious reasons, affirmative action employees often harbor resentment. “Many of them turn to social justice activism to distract from the fact that they are not as good at their jobs as straight white men who got their jobs based on merit or who were not hired at all.”
