Ghent Suspends Academic Behind Cambridge Plagiarism Claims
Ghent Suspends Academic Behind Cambridge Plagiarism Claims
The News
Ghent University in Belgium has suspended Nathan Cofnas, the researcher whose plagiarism allegations forced Cambridge professor Jason Arday to resign, and opened a preliminary disciplinary investigation into him.
The university notified Cofnas of the investigation on Aug. 20 and suspended him "as a precautionary measure" while it decides whether to refer the case to a formal disciplinary body.
Arday, 41, was found dead in Battersea, south London, on Friday, days after resigning from Cambridge. The allegations against him were never proven in any formal investigation, the Guardian reported.
Timeline
Cofnas, an American academic who writes against what he calls woke orthodoxy, is sacked from his role at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, after blog posts arguing that in a meritocracy "Blacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment."
Cofnas publishes a Substack piece, "DEI Fraud and Cover-Up at Cambridge," laying out plagiarism concerns about Arday's dissertation and questioning his biographical claims. Arday, who became Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023, had said he was non-verbal until age 11 and could not read or write until 18.
Arday resigns from Cambridge. He denied plagiarism but admitted to some mistakes.
Arday is found dead in Battersea, south London.
More than 30,000 people attend a vigil for Arday in Trafalgar Square, organizers said.
Ghent University publishes a statement saying it was shocked by Arday's death and that it "opposes discrimination, hatred and racism."
Cofnas posts on X: "I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me." The university confirms the suspension.
Reactions
In a joint statement Wednesday, Ghent rector Petra De Sutter and vice-rector Herwig Reynaert said the university attaches "great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited."
"It goes hand in hand with responsibility and may be restricted in order to protect the rights of others," they said, adding that the university takes "the recent public statements made by a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University regarding this matter very seriously."
Cofnas said on X on Thursday: "I am under investigation by my university for discriminating against Arday." He also said the decision was made by De Sutter, whom he identified as a former leader of the Green Party.
Cambridge's chancellor, Chris Smith, has described the media coverage of the Arday affair as a "racist feeding frenzy." Arday's supporters have accused Cofnas of a racially motivated campaign against him.
The College Fix, which has covered the allegations against Arday since July, credited Cofnas with first exposing the plagiarism and biographical claims and framed his suspension as punishment for that work.
What's Next
Ghent University will decide whether there are "sufficient grounds to refer the case to the competent disciplinary body for further consideration." It said it cannot comment further in order to safeguard the confidentiality of the personnel file and the proceedings.
The university has not said publicly what specific conduct is under investigation. Cofnas says he expects to be fired.
More
The dispute now running through two universities is not really about a footnote. It is about whether Cofnas exposed genuine academic misconduct at the heart of a DEI-era appointment, or ran a racially motivated campaign against a black professor — and Ghent has decided that question is serious enough to put a researcher's job on the line.
Cofnas was already removed from one Cambridge college in 2024 over his published views on race and merit. Arday's plagiarism allegations, meanwhile, were never tested in a formal proceeding, and with his death it is unclear whether they ever will be.
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