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The left for hiring someone who was not suitable, just to quickly meet DEI targets. Then ignoring the criticism and accusing his critics of being racist. Then disowning and condemning him once it was found that the criticisms have merit.
The right for shifting from objective criticism to mockery and ridicule, branding him as a woke DEI hire. Such things can bring shame and affect a person’s mental health.
When Cambridge University interviewed Jason Arday for one of the most prestigious sociology positions in the world, he was an early career scholar and underqualified, by the school’s own standards.
Cambridge’s requirements, reviewed by The New York Times, called for “an outstanding research record of international stature” and a “proven successful track record” supervising Ph.D. students. Dr. Arday had a modest publication record and had bounced from one university to the next — not staying long enough to oversee a full three-year-or-more doctorate.
Cambridge hired him anyway in 2023, making him, at 37, the university’s youngest Black professor at a time when the school was under pressure to diversify. In doing so, Cambridge thrust him into the international limelight, giving him a platform at one of the world’s elite universities to champion academic diversity and making him a target for critics.
Dr. Arday was found dead in London on Friday, days after resigning from his jobamid accusations that he had plagiarized chunks of his papers, embellished parts of his recently published memoir and fabricated aspects of his life story. The controversy exploded along cultural fault lines — race, neurodiversity and academic hiring.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/15/world/europe/jason-arday-cambridge-hiring-questions.html