‘Lied his way to the top’: Professor cries racism after plagiarism allegations

Jason Arday is, or maybe was, the star of Cambridge, one of Britain's two most famous universities, of course.He was the youngest black professor in its history.It's Diversity Poster Boy, and what a story of triumph over adversity.

Wouldn't it be the most ridiculous story ever told if the boy who couldn't read and write at 18 gets a PhD before he's 30?

That sounded a little bit too good to be true.Well, this sociology professor, now 41, has been accused of plagiarism, which he denies, accused of copying nearly verbatim in his doctoral thesis more than 100 passages just from one other academic's work.His defenders immediately did a Joe Hockey and claimed he was the victim of racism.

A baseless smear campaign against a distinguished black academic isn't just a personal attack.It's an attempt to shut down a black person who has a platform, and they keep doing this again and again.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.And Cambridge University even dismissed the plagiarism allegations, you know, brush them aside.But then other claims they made on investigation turned out to be completely false, like running 600 miles in six days, or like appearing on a famous TV show, 7 Up.

I was part of a program actually, which it doesn't really exist anymore, but it was called 7 Up at the time.And 7 Up is basically when they follow you over the duration of your life.So they follow you at kind of 7, 14, 21.And I was pulled out of the project when I was 14.

Small problem, 7 Up was first filmed 21 years before our day was even born.It also lied about fundraising it done, about foreign aid work it supposedly done, about a visiting professorship it never had.Andon and on.Joining me from London is TalkTV host Samara Gill.Samara, great to see you, but what an amazing story, and the question is, how did it get away with it for so long?

Goodness me, Andrew, I never want to get on your bad side.You've got the receipts.I mean, genuinely, it's so interesting, isn't it?How Professor Arday literally lied his way to the top, it seems.Now, look, he claims what I am not is a liar.And he also says that he is obviously the target of a politically and racially motivated campaign, as you played out there.

But you know, this shouldn't be a culture war story.And this is exactly what it's become.The question is whether Professor Arday, black, autistic, supporter of DEI, the question is whether he actually is supporting those academic standards and whether they apply to everyone.So if there are allegations of plagiarism, then they should investigate them.If they're unfounded, then clear his name.And most universities, they start treating the scrutiny as taboo because of someone's identity.

And that actually undermines public confidence in academia.the issues start to lie.I mean, I think to myself of Claudine Gay.If anyone remembers, she was the Harvard president.She was a black woman.She had multiple allegations of plagiarism on multiple academic works.

And she again pulled this race card saying that it was a witch hunt against her.Well, unfortunately, the plagiarism that was found to be true doesn't lie.And this is the problem here.You know, universities, they don't protect their reputation by avoiding difficult questions.They should protect it by answering them.And equal opportunities actually means equal scrutiny, Andrew.

But some people haven't got the memo on that.

That's so true.But, you know, it's interesting you say correctly, it shouldn't be a politicalissue.I think it is the case that it is.It's not that it's being attacked because it's a diversity pick.I think it's being defended because it's a diversity pick.

He's had so many defenders, especially when this story first broke.You know, they wanted to preserve this story.What's happening with him now?

I mean, what's happening with him now is that I believe he's fighting the case.He is claiming that it is some sort of targeted thing.There are also claims about harassment, including he's saying that a pig's head was delivered to his parents' home.That's also come under scrutiny.The police say they couldn't find any records of that to that account.From what I know, he maintains his version of events.

But I think that he is kind of going for now this guy called Nathan Coffness and he's alleging that Nathan has an interesting past and that Nathan, who is leading the charge against this, does have some sort of racial element to him and to what he's saying about him.

I wonder what this says about race politics in Britain, though, that this has become such a core celeb with, as you suggested, the facts don't seem to matter anymore.It's really what side are you on, you know, on the black guy side or against the black guy?It's like that.What does it say about race politics then?

It says that it is actually dividing the country instead of uniting it.This is not fair on black professors who have done all that they've done and got to the top by merit.He's actually ruining it for the rest of everyone else.Unfortunately, policies like DEI, in my view, actually totally do the opposite of what they would put into place to do.They make people resentful about those who get promoted.They make people think,

oh, why they're only in that position because of their skin color or because of their gender.And for a lot of the case, that's not true.So that is, I think, the issue here.And unfortunately, Britain is well in the wokification of its academic institutions, of its civil service.Just last year, we spent $60 million on DEI in the civil service.So this issue is not going away, unfortunately, Andrew.

What an amazing amount, is that the case?Honestly, this whole race business is such an industry now.Samara Gill, always great to talk to you and thank you so much.I mean, Samara is absolutely correct.It's such an insult to other black academics.You think of Thomas Sowell, the great Thomas Sowell, right?

Tremendous.He would never have needed all this stuff.He would never have needed that defending.His genius just shone.So there you go.