More than 31,000 people, including several members of Parliament, have signed a petition urging UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to hold a public inquiry into the alleged media harassment of the late academic Jason Arday, organisers said on Monday. The petition was launched by the Good Law Project, a legal activism group, after Arday, who was appointed three years ago as the youngest-ever Black professor at Cambridge University, was found dead on Friday.
The Good Law Project had been supporting Arday since he resigned earlier this month from the university and as a fellow of Jesus College after both institutions launched investigations into allegations of plagiarism and fabricating or exaggerating his life story. In a statement on its website, the group said: "There cannot be any doubt that Dr Arday's tragic death was the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment." It added: "A significant element in that harassment was the colour of his skin," and "there cannot be any doubt that racism lay at the heart of this story."
Allegations and media storm
The allegations against Arday, 41, had received widespread coverage in the UK press after another academic, self-defined "race realist" Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024, said in July he found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor's work. British media and right-wing commentators seized on the row, claiming Arday, who disputed the allegations, had unfairly benefited from diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) policies.
In a letter published when he resigned on 5 August, Arday said the move was "the only way" to end a "difficult period," but should not be "mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me." Following the shock news of his death on Friday, which police are not treating as suspicious, his family and friends have denounced "a campaign of sustained abuse" since his 2023 appointment. Friends have also said he was vulnerable, given Arday had written extensively about being diagnosed as autistic as a child and not speaking until he was 11.
Simon Woolley, Arday's former mentor and a leading member of staff at Cambridge University, told the BBC on Sunday that he and a group of friends had seen him last Monday. Arday "said he felt hounded to death, his words, that he couldn't see a way out," Woolley said. "On that day, we saw a man half his body weight and desperate beyond belief."
The Good Law Project said "many of the signatories" to its campaign had "warned multiple media outlets privately that their relentless pursuit of Dr Arday risked his suicide." A vigil for the late academic is set to be held in London's Trafalgar Square on Monday evening. A fundraising campaign to support his family has already raised almost £89,000 (€104,000).
The case has reignited debates about press ethics and the treatment of academics from minority backgrounds in the UK. Arday's death comes amid a broader conversation about the pressures faced by public figures, particularly those who become symbols of diversity in elite institutions. His family has condemned the harassment and called for accountability.
The petition, which has gained momentum across the country, calls on the government to investigate the role of the media in Arday's death. It also highlights the need for stronger protections for individuals who are subjected to intense public scrutiny. The plagiarism scandal that led to his resignation has been widely covered, but critics argue that the coverage went beyond legitimate reporting and became a campaign of personal destruction.
As the investigation into Arday's death continues, his supporters are demanding that lessons be learned. The Good Law Project has called for a public inquiry to examine not only the media's conduct but also the institutional responses from Cambridge University and Jesus College. The circumstances of his death have shocked the academic community and beyond.
Arday's legacy, however, extends beyond the controversy. He was a respected sociologist who focused on race, education, and social justice. His work inspired many young scholars, and his sudden death has left a void in the field. As the vigil in Trafalgar Square approaches, colleagues and friends are remembering him not just as a figure in a scandal, but as a brilliant mind and a kind soul.
