Cambridge Over Troubled Waters
Scrutinizing superstar academic Jason Arday’s impressive résumé.
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Today in Free Expression, columnist Meghan Cox Gurdon recounts her “moral injury” from Anthony Fauci; Harry Khachatrian calls out Canada’s leaders for their failure on antisemitism; and Emma Camp explains how “the elites” is a shorthand for one’s preferred political enemies.
But first, let’s check in on Cambridge . . .
The Talented Mr. Arday
—Kyle Smith
A lot of funny guys are associated with the University of Cambridge, such as alumni John Cleese, Eric Idle, Stephen Fry, Douglas Adams and Sacha Baron Cohen. Today, though, one of the ancient university’s faculty is inspiring as much laughter as any of them at their best. Meet Jason Arday, the most hilarious storyteller alive.
Mr. Arday, a 41-year-old sociologist, was hired three years ago amid great fanfare as the youngest black professor in the history of that institution, which had only five black professors at the time and was eager to find more. He was recently exposed for what are delicately termed “similarities” between passages in his dissertation and those of a dissertation by Brunel University student Paula Zwozdiak-Myers. He denies being a plagiarist and the university is backing him. Yet the likelihood that Mr. Arday coincidentally came up with the same phrasing have been put at one in 100 billion. But seemingly passing off others’ words as his own isn’t the most amusing part of his story.
Mr. Arday has claimed he didn’t speak until he was 11 (which he says is because he was diagnosed with autism at age 3) and that he was illiterate until he was 18; that he had a brain tumor when he was completing his doctorate; that he once ran 600 miles in six days; that he completed 30 marathons in 35 days, nine of them with a hairline leg fracture; that he starred on a famous television program “Seven Up,” 20-plus years before he was born; that he raised £5.5 million for charity. When challenged about the more astonishing running claim, which would’ve placed him among history’s most elite athletes in that category, he dialed it back a little by saying it had actually taken him 12 days to run the 600 miles. He said he couldn’t reveal the details of the £5 million he raised because of nondisclosure agreements and added that he was merely one member of a group of fundraisers.
Evidence for many of his claims is scant, but Mr. Arday has been trying to change the subject to a supposed racist campaign against him. When in doubt, claim you’re the real victim.
Shortly after being hired, Mr. Arday claimed he was sent vicious racist emails; that the severed head of a pig was sent to his parents’ place in South London; and that an intruder came at him in his office, twice, the second time with a knife. After the first incident, the university installed extra surveillance equipment including CCTV but no images of anyone with a knife have been found. Mr. Arday helpfully gave the Guardian the name of a local butcher’s shop that police supposedly investigated because it had supposedly sold a whole pig on the morning of the incident, but the butchers denied this (“That’s the kind of thing we’d remember”) and so did the police (“categorically”).
When the Guardian, whose woke credentials are usually seen as unassailable, confronted Mr. Arday about his misadventures with truth, he said, “To be honest with you, I thought you’d just believe me.”
Just so! Some banks are too big to fail. Some academics are, too. The media had indeed, until very recently, made a habit of simply publishing as fact whatever he said, and there’s the real problem here. It isn’t only that a professor at a leading university appears to be a serial fabulist. (Mr. Arday denies this categorization.) It’s that the university, as an institution, along with the media, is supposed to be one the most rigorous pursuers of truth in our society.
Instead, universities and media outlets are regularly proving themselves to be gullible, blinkered and childishly naive when it comes to claims made by those who have successfully cloaked themselves in the warm, protective layers of wokery. When Cambridge itself was confronted with evidence of plagiarism, it called the revelations part of a “vile campaign to undermine his credibility.” As of this writing, Mr. Arday still has his job, and Simon & Schuster still plans to publish this month what promises to be a highly entertaining memoir by Mr. Arday, “Great and Unfortunate Things.”
It has become a reflex in academe to question the motives of those who discover evidence that endangers the reputation of favored scholars, the ones the university really wants to succeed. Naturally, Mr. Arday’s response to one professor who in 2023 brought up passages from Mr. Arday’s work that strongly resembled previously published writing was to claim that he was being wronged by the questions. “Instead of spending your time trying to dismantle racism and ableism, you have spent what I assume is hours combing through my work looking for mistakes,” he replied, adding, “anything further from you will be considered bullying and harassment.”
Sorry, but questioning the character of an accuser isn’t how truth is found. “You’re racist” may be one of today’s most favored epithets but it still isn’t an argument. Picture a toddler putting his fingers in his ears and yelling “La la la” when being told it’s bedtime, and you’ll have some sense of how our supposed guardians of truth react to unwelcome information. As one long-ago Cambridge figure, Bertrand Russell, wrote in 1942, “People’s opinions are mainly designed to make them feel comfortable; truth, for most people, is a secondary consideration.”
Wilted Ivy: Brown University president Christina H. Paxson announced on Monday she will resign at the end of the upcoming academic year. Her 15-year tenure was longer than any other current Ivy League leader, a feat that might remain unmatched for a while. The average tenure of college presidents is shortening, down to 5.9 years in 2022 from 8.5 years in 2006. Heightened public scrutiny, political pressures and burnout have made it harder to stay in the job for long. Over the past year alone at Brown, Ms. Paxson oversaw a deal with the Trump administration to restore research funding and navigated the tragedy of a campus shooting that killed two students. Heavy lies the head that wears an Ivy League crown. — Mary Julia Koch
Hanging Paw: Surfing has once again gone to the dogs. This past weekend, the annual World Dog Surfing Championships took place in Pacifica, Calif. Canines of many breeds performed surfing deeds that landlocked humans couldn’t even dream of. The charity event began in 2016 and offers a variety of awards. “Rippin’” Rosie, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, was the day’s top dog, winning the “spirit of surfing” trophy. — Jack Butler
Cold Brew: Some yogurt fans are turning to extreme measures to get their fix. Dannon’s coffee-flavored yogurt has long had a cult following, but when the company announced it would discontinue the variety, some obsessives responded by stockpiling yogurts. One man interviewed by the Journal managed to secure a hoard of 75 yogurts. Other fanatics have tried to replicate the recipe at home, but to no avail. A petition to bring back the flavor has 900 signatures. Dannon indicated that it would release another coffee flavor soon, but that it would match “the taste preferences, flavor profile and nutritional benefits many consumers seek in the yogurt aisle today.” — Emma Camp
Covid’s Moral Injuries
Meghan Cox Gurdon
Moral damage may not be visible from the outside, but it causes real pain. And it leaves scarring.
If you, like me, suffered profound moral injury five and six years ago, you may have felt the old wounds throbbing this past week when Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth during a Covid hearing.
Read Meghan’s Column ⧁
Canada Has an Antisemitism Problem
A raucous wave of antisemitic agitation, intimidation and violence have rocked Canada. Politicians at every level keep responding to each attack with the same platitude: “Hate has no place in Canada.” Apparently it does.
By Harry Khachatrian
‘Elites’ Are Whoever You Want Them to Be
When Americans talk about “the elites,” they may be referring to those with considerable wealth. But some, especially on the right, also use a cultural definition of “elite.” A disconnect between these two interpretations leads to considerable confusion.
Glen Hansard Made Beautiful Music
And one movie that ranks among the best of the 21st century so far.
By Kyle Smith
Med Schools Are Over Their Politics Fever
Students aren’t swearing to uproot ‘structural violence’ anymore. They’re taking the Hippocratic Oath.
By Sally Satel
The Ceuta Invasion Is Stranger Than Fiction
European elites struggle to react to the migrants rushing to a Spanish enclave on the north African coast.
By Dominic Green
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