Jason Arday - youngest Cambridge professor who was also black

There are 2 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 128 times. The latest Post (August 19, 2026 at 11:52 PM) was by UK Man.

    Jason Arday resigned from Cambridge university after plagiarism accusations and doubts about the claims he made about his childhood and achievements. He was later found dead from an apparent suicide.

    I'm having a lot of difficulty understanding the facts in this tragic story. He claims to have been illiterate until the age of 18 (not being able to read or write) and couldn't speak until he was 11. Yet at the age of 38 he becomes the youngest black professor at Cambridge. Many also believe the choice of him being appointed was purely political and very DEI.

    Was he a fraud?

    Tributes paid to Jason Arday after former Cambridge professor’s death
    Andy Burnham calls for reflection after ‘a tragedy on so many levels’ in comments echoed by London mayor Sadiq Khan
    www.theguardian.com

    I'm having trouble understanding this case too. I have read that his claims not to have spoken until age 11 and not to have read or written until age 18 have been disproved. But if that is the case, wouldn't Cambridge's due diligence have revealed that before he was appointed? I also read that there were 2 other candidates for the post who were people of color, who were much better qualified than he was.

    Could he have suffered the pangs of Imposter Syndrome? Regardless, his death certainly was a tragedy. Perhaps an avoidable one.

    He's a bit odd looking....did he wear makeup? Looks more like a pop singer than a Cambridge professor.

    Shouldn't be hard for them to find out if he was a fraud or not. I suspect the former.