Cambridge University has confirmed it will press ahead with an investigation into a professor who resigned this week amid a plagiarism row, stating that its findings will inform a review of how senior academic roles are appointed.
Professor Jason Arday stepped down from his high-profile position on Wednesday after the prestigious institution launched a probe into his "academic qualifications and honorary appointments".
Dozens of academics at the university have called for an independent inquiry into the process around Prof Arday’s appointment, with one saying that the institution cannot be allowed to “mark its own homework”.
A petition calling for the independent inquiry is expected to push 100 signatories by the end of the day.
One of the signatories, Professor Priyamvada Gopal, said: “We’re saying that the resignation is not the end of the story, that there are potential mistakes and missteps made by the university that need to be investigated.”
Responding to Cambridge’s announcement of a review, the professor of postcolonial studies at Cambridge’s English faculty added: “This cannot be a case of the university marking its own homework.
“We are absolutely clear that the investigation needs to be independent, not in the university’s own hands, and needs to be completely transparent and accountable to the Cambridge community.”
The university has been contacted for comment.
The resignation follows a series of media reports alleging that Prof Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, plagiarised his PhD thesis, completed at Liverpool John Moores University, and other research.
Further questions were raised in the press regarding the veracity of other claims made by the professor of sociology of education, including assertions that he ran 600 miles in six days and raised £5.5 million for charity.
In a statement released on Friday, Cambridge confirmed: "As has been widely reported, Jason Arday has resigned from his post at the university with immediate effect. Regardless of this, and for clarification, the university will continue to investigate the circumstances around Jason Arday’s appointment and tenure.
“The findings will feed into a review of the process for the appointment of senior academic roles. In addition, and as previously stated, the university’s Research Policy Committee will review the misconduct in research policy."
Jesus College had also previously indicated it would launch its own process concerning the allegations.
In an interview with The Guardian, Prof Gopal said: "An independent investigation must scrutinise how such an early-career appointment to a very senior and prestigious professorial chair was made and what both the faculty of education and university management may have got very badly wrong."
She added: "Whatever the results of any investigation, the university bears no little responsibility for the grotesque racism which this whole business has unleashed, and for the harm done both to the individual in the line of fire, to black academics as a group, and the broader field of critical race studies."
On Friday evening, the University of Glasgow said it will review its past appointment of Prof Arday.
A spokesperson said: “Jason Arday was employed as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow, from January 2022 to March 2023.
“He left the University to take up his role as Professorial Chair at the University of Cambridge.
“The Principal has commissioned a review of the appointment with the aim of understanding all the facts and learning lessons for the future.”
An investigation at Liverpool John Moores University had previously cleared Prof Arday of wrongdoing. However, academics have voiced concerns that his case could be exploited by those critical of diversity and equality initiatives, potentially deterring other black scholars.
Alan Lester, professor of historical geography at the University of Sussex, told the Press Association: "The tragedy is that this case now provides the far-right racists who condemn any equalities and diversity initiatives with a weapon that they will wield egregiously."
Kehinde Andrews, formerly a professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, told Sky News: "No one’s handing out favours to black people in higher education, and that idea is deeply dangerous and deeply racist. There is a whole campaign to get more black professors in, but the experiences that we have tend to be horrendous and it does put people off from trying to even get into these places in the first place."
In his open resignation letter, published on the Good Law Project’s website, Prof Arday stated that the "only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away".
"This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge,” he said.
“Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me. It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure."
His memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things, is scheduled for publication by Simon & Schuster later this month.
