Thousands mourn Jason Arday in London, blaming ‘racist’ press for his death

‘Racist feeding frenzy’

The controversy centred on allegations that Arday had plagiarised parts of his 2015 doctoral thesis and embellished details of his personal biography. Arday resigned from his post at Cambridge on August 5, saying the “relentless accusations” had taken a “profound toll” on him and his family.

Liverpool John Moores University. It awarded his doctorate, said it had cleared him of plagiarism, but Cambridge – which initially dismissed the allegations as a “vile campaign” to undermine Arday’s credibility – afterwards opened a review of his appointment amid the continuing controversy.

He was found dead two weeks afterwards, with Metropolitan Police saying the death was being treated as “unexpected” but that it was “not believed to be suspicious”. The cause has not been made public.

Cambridge Chancellor Chris Smith, Lord Smith of Finsbury, condemned what he called a “racist feeding frenzy” in an official note issued after Arday’s death.

Meanwhile, a petition calling for a public inquiry into the media’s conduct, started by the Good Law Project, had gathered more than 96,000 signatures by Monday. It argued that Arday’s “tragic death was the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment,” and that “a significant element in that harassment was the colour of his skin”.

The petition pointed to other academics who it said had faced comparatively little scrutiny over similar allegations. This included George Holmes, a university vice chancellor implicated in a fraud inquiry, and William O’Reilly, a Cambridge professor accused of plagiarising student essays. According to The petition, both men are white.

According to NewsCord, a media analysis organisation, some 249 articles about Arday were published in media in the United Kingdom in the 22 days before his death, with 188 appearing in the final nine days after his resignation.

Organisers at Monday’s vigil had asked attendees not to speak with reporters, and the mood towards the media was hostile throughout the evening.

Patricia Cohen, who was at the vigil holding a yellow rose and a placard, said she had ceased reading coverage of the case weeks earlier, calling it “biased”.

“I knew they were just damning and unfair,” she said. “If he did do something wrong, it didn’t warrant the abuse, the torment that he was getting.”

She questioned whether journalists would face any consequences for how they had covered the story. “Are we going to start penalising the journalists? Are they going to be monitored better? Because the way that they hound residents, especially people of colour – it’s hard to describe.”