The US ambassador to Belgium has denounced the suspension of a US academic who led plagiarism accusations against Jason Arday, the black ex-Cambridge professor found dead last week after resigning over the scandal.
Bill White, posting on X on Friday, denounced the decision by the University of Ghent as an attempt to silence Nathan Cofnas, a self-defined “race realist” who was himself sacked from his Cambridge post two years ago.
On Thursday, Cofnas announced on X that Ghent had suspended him, adding: “They will almost certainly fire me.”
Without naming Cofnas, the University of Ghent said in a statement it had launched a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” against a postdoctoral researcher embroiled in the furore, suspending him “as a precautionary measure”.
In response to the suspension, White said Washington would be reviewing any relationship it might have with the University of Ghent.
“Dishonest, corrupt institutions that engage in, or reward, scapegoating mob behavior are not desirable partners for us,” wrote the ambassador, an ally of US President Donald Trump.
Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest-ever black professor when he was appointed in 2023, was found dead in mid-August aged 41.
He was facing mounting accusations that he had plagiarised parts of his doctoral thesis and exaggerated some of his personal life achievements.
Diagnosed with autism and other developmental difficulties as a child, Arday had disputed the allegations against him, with his family blaming a racially motivated “misinformation campaign”.
But he quit on August 5, writing in his resignation letter that he had “reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure”.
Plagiarism concerns surrounding Arday first surfaced several years ago but went nowhere at the time, with one reporter backing down from investigating further after the professor threatened legal action.
Last month, however, Cofnas came forward to say he had found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor’s work. The case then snowballed, receiving widespread media coverage in Britain and the United States.
British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, claiming Arday had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
Ghent University said it was now “assessing” whether there were sufficient grounds to launch full disciplinary proceedings in the Cofnas case.
In a previous statement on Wednesday, the university said it was “shocked” by Arday’s death and took “very seriously” public statements made by its researcher regarding the former professor.
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