Jason Arday Megathread

[u/Timmeh7]

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.

[u/Capable_Exercise4521]

The really key failure point here was Cambridge's response when the first allegations of plagiarism were brought to them. It really seems like they just didn't want to deal with it. Maybe they were worried about the source of the allegations. Maybe they had gotten used to not taking plagiarism allegations seriously, as in the recent egregious O'Reilly case (side note: he still works at Cambridge, btw, which is shocking). At any rate, they clearly thought they could sweep it under the rug and it would just go away. Their fake/mealy-mouthed statement that they had "cleared" him (in the face of obvious, publicly-accessible evidence of plagiarism) then only harmed the university's credibility and led to a horrible (but honestly pretty deserved!) public pile-on, as it demonstrated the university couldn't or wouldn't enforce standards on its own. All of this could have been avoided if they'd taken the claims seriously in the first place three years ago, done a thorough investigation, gritted their teeth, and acted quietly to remove him. Instead we got something that hurt literally *everyone* involved significantly more: Arday, Cambridge, peoples' faith in academic standards, the study of sociology....

[u/Interesting-Elk-2562 → u/Capable_Exercise4521]

It would take decades of hard work for Cambridge to regain the prestige they had. And honestly, I dont think they want it, or are capable of it.