Jason Arday, the former Cambridge professor who resigned amid plagiarism allegations, has received public support from ITV's Good Morning Britain star Narinder Kaur, who claims she knows "exactly what's going on" and describes the backlash as "an absolute pile on."
Resignation and Allegations
Arday, who became Cambridge's youngest-ever black professor in 2023, stepped down from his role after a series of media reports questioned his achievements and raised allegations of plagiarism in his PhD thesis. The 41-year-old admitted errors in his work and claimed he faced "an unrelenting level of public scrutiny and personal attack." In his resignation letter, he maintained he was not a "liar" and said he had "concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away."
Following his resignation, the University of Cambridge announced it would review its process for appointing senior academics.
Kaur's Defense
In a series of posts on social media, Kaur expressed her support for Arday, suggesting that the intense scrutiny was disproportionate. She wrote: "Every brown and black academic will bear the brunt of this alleged plagiarism, whatever it was, as if no academic or professor has never copied a couple of lines in the world."
She questioned the media's focus, asking why there wasn't similar outrage over racially aggravated attacks on Sikh women. Kaur stated: "I want to know why your same passion and anger wasn't there when a Sikh woman was basically raped in a racially aggravated attack, and a Sikh woman was murdered in her bed, lying next to her three-month-old baby."
She concluded: "But when it's a brown or black victim, silence, and you will not convince me otherwise. I know exactly what's going on here."
Arday's Statement
In his resignation statement, released via the Good Law Project, Arday described his appointment as "without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life." However, he added: "There comes a point when the personal cost becomes too great."
He emphasized that his resignation should not "be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge. Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me."
Arday thanked his students and colleagues, stating that "for my own wellbeing, for my family, and for those who have stood by me throughout this difficult period, I have concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away." He insisted: "This is not the end of my work" and that he needed "time to heal." Adding: "When that time comes, I will return."
