The death of Jason Arday was a tragic end to a bizarre tale. The story hasn’t ended, though, as extreme leftists and race hustlers scramble to canonize a man by rewriting his history and blaming the media for driving him to suicide. If they truly respected Arday, they would let him rest in peace and be lobbying for stronger mental health supports. Arday was no martyr nor victim. He was a pathological liar whose rise to prominence was facilitated by an ideological obsession with DEI in educational institutions, which ultimately put him in an untenable position and led to his suicide.The rise of Jason Arday was a dream come true for racial equity advocates. It was the story of a young man who overcame numerous barriers to ultimately become the University of Cambridge’s youngest black professor in history. Arday was apparently nonverbal until age 11, unable to read until 18, overcame autism, epilepsy, and other challenges, and earned a PhD to climb the academic ranks with extraordinary speed. He became a poster child for advocacy against racism in higher education, appeared in the media, and cultivated an image of inspirational resilience.The problem was it was all bullshit.Evidence surfaced of chronic plagiarism in Arday’s work, beginning with his doctoral thesis in 2015 and continuing thereafter. Once smoke started to rise, media outlets applied more scrutiny to Arday’s claims and found a mountain of fabrication. Reporting by The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, and others documented further problems. Arday duplicated or recycled interview material across papers that suggested possible fabrication of data, claims of visiting professorships and honorary appointments that institutions denied ever existed, and embellishments or contradictions in the autobiographical details that had helped fuel his public profile. It was hard to find truths from the man.Ultimately, Cambridge announced an investigation at the beginning of August, and Arday took his own life shortly afterward..The carefully crafted identity Arday created made him a hero and an inspirational figure for many people. The disappointment upon discovering Arday’s disingenuity was surely crushing. Rather than accept the reality that Arday was a con artist rather than an academic wonder, some activists are trying to paint him as a man who was unfairly torn down by the media.History is rife with examples of racial discrimination against Black people. That doesn’t mean every adverse outcome that lands upon a Black person is the result of racism, though. Race hustlers are lining up to take advantage of Arday’s death to portray him as a victim. One article went straight to the punch and claimed it was a modern-day lynching by the media. It’s a vile comparison considering what real lynchings were all about.Arday himself was the architect of his demise. He built a career upon lies, and they eventually caught up with him. The stress must have been incredible as he saw his inevitable downfall approaching. Arday wasn’t an honest man, but he wasn’t a stupid man either. He knew the gig was up. It’s still terrible that he chose to end his own life at 41 rather than live with the consequences of his actions. But that doesn’t undo his actions.If any blame for Arday’s situation is to land beyond his own actions, it is with the academic institutions that facilitated his falsehoods. In their zeal to raise a Black man to the highest levels of academia, universities barely offered cursory examination of Arday’s credentials. By elevating him so rapidly and so publicly, Cambridge and the broader academic culture that celebrated the hire created the conditions for the later scrutiny..If the media could so quickly cut through the web of lies Arday had spun, Cambridge should have been able to long ago. Cambridge purposely blinded itself by putting DEI goals ahead of scrutiny of credentials. They put Arday into a position where his fall would be inevitable, and it didn’t take long before it happened. A quieter career at a less visible institution might never have attracted the same level of forensic attention. Arday was skilled in the art of BS and could have found tenure in a different university, but his ambition surpassed his sense.The media in the UK did its job. They investigated and exposed a man who was improperly placed into a high role in one of the most prominent universities in the world. Was the media supposed to ignore this because he happened to be Black? Some activists think so.In fact, there is even a petition calling for the government of the UK to impose a law limiting how many articles the media may be allowed to write on any one individual over a period. The petition is absurd, but so is the premise of most DEI-inspired policies, and that hasn’t stopped their proliferation.Many figures have overcome challenges and are worthy of the admiration of citizens. Their accomplishments should be celebrated and used to inspire others in difficult situations. Arday was not one of those figures, and the efforts to posthumously turn him into a victim don’t do Arday or anybody else any favours.
