Cambridge University has become a global laughing stock over the Jason Arday scandal, according to columnist Carole Malone. The institution's woke, pompous intellectuals swallowed a catalogue of lurid fantasies, each more ridiculous than the last.
Arday's Fabrications
Arday claimed to have run 35 marathons in 30 days, nine with a fractured leg, and raised £5.5 million for 70 charities. He also said he ran 600 miles in six days, which would have made him a world-class athlete. He lied about having a book published and included plagiarised quotes in his thesis.
Other stories included volunteering in South America and West Africa for Water Aid, being confronted by an armed man in a faculty office (CCTV showed nothing), and a pig's head left outside his door (police said it never happened). He even claimed to have appeared in the Sixties TV series Seven Up, despite being 20 years too young.
Ignored Warnings
For three years, Cambridge ignored warnings about Arday. His background as a black, working-class man who overcame adversity was enough to make him a diversity poster boy and a professor. Malone argues this makes a nonsense of what universities should be about.
She contrasts the academics' gullibility with the common sense of working-class men like her father's drinking buddies, who would have instantly dismissed his stories. Malone says Cambridge's brilliant minds were hoodwinked because they were brainwashed by diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology.
Reputation in Tatters
Malone believes the university's sacred reputation is now in tatters because it prioritised diversity over education and knowledge. She notes that Arday's mental health problems appear real, but the cleverest people on the planet missed them. The scandal shows fairness has been sacrificed on the altar of the diversity cult.
