Belgian university suspends academic who accused Arday of plagiarism

A Belgian university has suspended the US academic who spearheaded accusations of plagiarism against the late Cambridge professor, Jason Arday.

Researcher Nathan Cofnas, a self-defined "race realist", said in a post on X that he was under investigation by Ghent University for “discriminating” against him.

Without naming Cofnas, the university said in a statement it had launched a "preliminary disciplinary investigation" against a postdoctoral researcher embroiled in the furore.

Ghent University said it was now "assessing" whether there were sufficient grounds to launch full disciplinary proceedings in the case.

In a previous statement, it said it was "shocked" by Arday's death and took "very seriously" public statements made by its researcher regarding the late professor.

Concerns around Arday resurfaced last month after Cofnas claimed plagiarism detection software had found passages of his work were “lifted with minimal editing”.

This prompted a weeks-long plagiarism row that received widespread media coverage in both Britain and the United States.

Once hailed as the British university's youngest Black professor, Arday was found dead in London last Friday, ​days after resigning from his post.

He was facing mounting accusations he had plagiarised parts of his doctoral thesis and exaggerated some of his personal life achievements.

Diagnosed with autism and other developmental difficulties as a child, Arday had disputed the allegations against him, but ​acknowledged making mistakes.

British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, claiming Arday had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

He quit on 5 August writing in his resignation letter that he had "reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure".

Cofnas himself was fired by Cambridge University two years ago.

This followed a backlash to his view that under a true meritocracy, Black people would “disappear” from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment".