CALGARY — More questions about former University of Cambridge professor Jason Arday are being raised after a proposal for his forthcoming memoir reportedly contained more outlandish claims from the 37-year-old about locked-in syndrome and testicular cancer.Arday, who had previously been the youngest black professor to be employed at Cambridge, recently resigned after the university opened an investigation into his academic qualifications after “new information” was discovered amid allegations of plagiarism and growing scrutiny of both his personal and academic claims.According to The Atlantic, a 2024 proposal for his memoir, Great and Unfortunate Things, contained several accounts that differ significantly from the completed version that is expected to hit bookshelves next week.In the proposal, Arday claims he was struck by a car as a teenager, then spent several months in a coma and developed locked-in syndrome..He went on to describe how doctors told his parents he would never recover and would be removed from life support “as an act of mercy.”Arday alleges he later “miraculously” woke from his coma and spent a year “relearning everything — how to walk, to talk.”However, the now-finished memoir describes Arday finishing school and taking his exams during that period.On top of that claim, the proposal reportedly referred to Arday suffering from testicular cancer, while the final book instead describes him having two brain tumours.The Atlantic also identified differences involving dates and people in several other stories.An account of Arday being beaten up by a group of boys changes the ages of his attackers between the proposal and the finished book.A suicide attempt is described as taking place before the COVID-19 pandemic in the proposal but during the pandemic in the memoir.Another story concerns a prediction Arday said he received while working in Brazil..Cambridge University's youngest black professor quits as plagiarism questions mount.In the proposal, Arday said that in 2005 he met a “shaman woman” who was an elder in the town where he was working and was known for predicting people’s futures.The woman allegedly predicted that Arday would suffer but ultimately accomplish great things.“Every event she described has since come to pass,” the proposal reportedly said.The final memoir retains a version of the story but changes several details.The encounter takes place in 2006, and the woman is instead described as a local aid worker in her thirties.These discrepancies now add more scrutiny to Arday’s life story as more people question claims he previously made, such as his assertion that he could not write until he was 18, as well as his claim that he ran 30 marathons in 35 days, raising millions for charity.On Wednesday, Arday said in a resignation letter that “while criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement.”“The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love,” he added.
