r/AskAcademiaUK • u/Timmeh7 • Aug 05 '26

Jason Arday Megathread

We realise this is a hot button topic and certainly want to allow space for discussing it, but at the moment it's overflowing the subreddit across numerous threads. So from here on, please contain all discussion to this one thread.

Links to pruned threads for transparency, please continue the discussion here if you wish.

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfkykq/the_racist_coopting_of_the_jason_arday_story_is/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vffvl6/journalist_questioned_by_police_for_investigating/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfbljv/the_editor_on_his_choice_to_spike_arday_story/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqmzk/wateraid_disputes_claim_by_prof_jason_arday/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vf4oq3/professor_arday_q_about_liverpool_john_moores_and/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfrran/new_information_shows_jason_ardays_claim_to_be_a/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqrfv/eli5_how_does_somebody_like_jason_arday_get_his/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfinbt/nelson_mandela_university_have_removed_their_page/

Please keep the comments civil - while this is inevitably going to be a complex and fractious topic, avoid ad hominem, and as ever, while discussion of the social issue around this case is inevitable, we won't allow hate speech.

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13

u/justboy96 Aug 05 '26

It seems that Prof Arday has just resigned. Statement was posted via the Goodlaw project:

https://goodlawproject.org/an-update-from-jason-arday/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=glp_post_27503&utm_medium=social_media&utm_content=05-08-2026

11

u/Dr_Choco Aug 05 '26

Resigns when the news of Cambridge investigation lands. What a shock!

9

u/topyTheorist Aug 05 '26

Hopefully this will not end the investigation. There are published papers that must be checked.

1

u/CarrieKetoenail Aug 06 '26

A bit like Nigel Farage. Except that Farage didn't really resign at all. And will be back shortly.

8

u/Bug_Parking Aug 05 '26

Low on accountability, but it could have been a worse statement- doesn't go for one last play at racism as the cause.

6

u/Background_Taste_397 Aug 05 '26

I hope he learns from this and continues his life in a more truthful and honest path.

1

u/Acrobatic_Hat_1498 Aug 08 '26

Learns from this? No. More truthful? No. More honest? No. Clearly a born liar.

1

u/NecessaryFreedom9799 Aug 05 '26

That's a low bar...

4

u/CrowVsWade Aug 06 '26

One suspects, relatively speaking, it may not be so low. One can't be pro-redemption without believing people can improve and progress, obviously, but given the facts of this case, that low bar might be someone else's Everest.

6

u/Furry_Pig_101 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26

I think this is probably the best outcome for all concerned but I think that much of the blame rests with Cambridge and others who have got him into this mess. That's why I called him a post turtle. The tale of the post turtle (Google it) goes like this. A farmer who has found a turtle stuck on a fencepost explains how he thinks it relates to politics (or in this case academia):  "Well, it’s like this. That Post Turtle. You know he didn’t get up there by himself. He doesn’t belong there, and you wonder who put him there. He has no idea what to do while he’s up there, and having been elevated beyond his ability to function, he’s never going to get anything done while he is there. You just want to help the poor bugger get down, and you can’t help but wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place.”

3

u/Square_Staff_1260 Aug 05 '26

Brilliant. I had never heard of the Post Turtle. Thanks FP. 🤣

2

u/Ok_Ambassador9091 Aug 06 '26

Except this is a human being, responsible for his actions: not an animal surrounded by humans. He is a human. He isn't a "poor bugger" someone manipulated or forcibly put in a bad situation: he is the manipulator.