How Jason Arday’s appointment became a reckoning for Cambridge

{"text":[[{"start":8.821,"text":"Most of the tourists meandering the cobbled streets of Cambridge and taking in the centuries-old buildings this week were seemingly unaware of the storm inside the elite institution over standards in research and how senior academics are appointed."}],[{"start":23.44,"text":"The resignation of Jason Arday from a professorial chair in education amid claims of plagiarism has thrust Cambridge’s approach to diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) into the spotlight."}],[{"start":36.08,"text":"In response, the university has promised an inquiry into the process that led Arday to become its youngest-ever Black professor at the age of 37 in 2023."}],[{"start":45.84,"text":"After waves of criticism about the comparatively small share of women and people of colour in academic roles, Cambridge, like its rival Oxford university, has sought to recruit from wider pools, formalise DEI policies and improve governance, notably in relation to complaints of sexual harassment."}],[{"start":62.928,"text":"Yet dons and officials at both institutions, several of whom spoke to the FT on condition of anonymity, said the Arday episode was evidence of decision makers rushing to tackle perceptions of being stuck in the past, rather than prioritising a long-term diversity strategy."}],[{"start":78.467,"text":"Others said Cambridge’s handling of the appointment — and the fallout — risked setting back efforts to build a more inclusive culture."}],[{"start":85.467,"text":"The university’s appointment of Arday may have been a response “to criticism that they had very few Black academics, but I don’t think you can take shortcuts to these things”, said Priyamvada Gopal, a professor of postcolonial studies at Cambridge."}],[{"start":99.28,"text":"“If you pluck Black scholars at an early career stage and put them into a major professorship, you walk into the criticism that you are doing DEI rather than excellence, and I don’t see any reason why the two should be opposed.”"}],[{"start":110.16,"text":"Both Oxford and Cambridge have increased diversity at undergraduate level in recent years, partly by investing in “outreach” efforts to encourage prospective applicants from “non-traditional backgrounds”."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":122.306,"text":"In 2025, 30 per cent of UK undergraduates admitted to Oxford were from ethnic minority backgrounds, up from 24.6 per cent in 2021, according to the university. The figures compare with 18.3 per cent of the population of England and Wales who identified as being from a non-white ethnic group."}],[{"start":140.32,"text":"At Cambridge, in the 2024-25 academic year 33.4 per cent of undergraduates living in the UK were from ethnic minority backgrounds, up from 29.5 per cent in 2021-22. Women account for just over half of undergraduates at both universities."}],[{"start":158.16,"text":"By comparison, 25 per cent of statutory professors at Oxford and roughly 28 per cent at Cambridge are women. About 11 per cent of statutory professors at Oxford and 12.1 per cent of professors at Cambridge are from ethnic minority backgrounds. In 2025, 0.4 per cent of Cambridge professors were Black."}],[{"start":178.243,"text":"According to the latest data from the UK’s Higher Education Staff Statistics (HESA), women accounted for 32 per cent of professors in 2024-25, while 14 per cent of professors were from ethnic minority backgrounds. In the same year, data showed that across UK universities there were as few as 270 Black professors, or 1 per cent."}],[{"start":200.64,"text":"One Oxford don said the recruitment of teaching staff was “moving in a much more positive direction”, thanks to an effort to “pay special attention to women or Black and minority ethnic people in the appointment process, other things being equal”."}],[{"start":213.444,"text":"But it was “sometimes hard to know” the proportion of Black people within that group, he added. “If you want to fix that, you don’t do it by making one appointment and jumping up and down and saying, ‘Look at how great we are’. What you need is a strategy that is short- and medium-term.”"}],[{"start":228.4,"text":"Although they are often joined under the banner of “Oxbridge”, the two universities have taken different approaches to developing and implementing DEI policies."}],[{"start":236.923,"text":"While Oxford appointed a dedicated “chief diversity officer” three years ago, Cambridge looks to an unpaid DEI committee, which unites representatives from across the 817-year-old institution."}],[{"start":248.498,"text":"One Cambridge professor said it would “surprise a lot of people . . . just how decentralised a lot of these issues are”, suggesting the committee did not hold real power and was seen inside the university “as a tiny bit ceremonial or almost tokenistic”."}],[{"start":263.92,"text":"He added: “A lot of the commentary makes it seem like they are running the universities, but that’s basically the opposite of what they’re actually like when you sit on these committees.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":272.56,"text":"The head of one Oxford college said DEI frameworks had been “taken into the [Oxford] body managerially” via the chief diversity officer, who exercised “his responsibilities in a very sober and serious way”."}],[{"start":285.28,"text":"By contrast, DEI had “crept into the Cambridge bloodstream in a way that makes it an orthodoxy that is very hard to challenge”, the person added. “All this is very bad for Cambridge, but the real victim is sensible equality, diversity and inclusion.”"}],[{"start":300.16,"text":"When the allegations of plagiarism first emerged, Cambridge defended Arday as “the victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility”. Last week, soon after the university said it would probe his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”, he resigned."}],[{"start":315.92,"text":"Besides allegations that he plagiarised his PhD at Liverpool John Moores University — claims that the institution said it had investigated and dismissed last year — Arday has been accused of making a series of false and exaggerated statements in his CV, including running 30 marathons over 35 days."}],[{"start":334.32,"text":"On resigning, Arday said in a letter posted online that the “only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”."}],[{"start":341.36,"text":"The decision to leave his post should not be “mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me”, he added. “It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.”"}],[{"start":357.2,"text":"On Tuesday vice-chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice said in a letter to Cambridge staff, first reported by the FT, that the investigation into Arday’s appointment must be “thorough and transparent” and would involve academics from Cambridge and other institutions."}],[{"start":369.021,"text":"But she stressed that his case was an “aberration” and “should not be used to cast aspersions” on other “highly valued” non-white colleagues."}],[{"start":377.227,"text":"In a separate letter on Thursday to all staff, Prentice said the issues raised by the Arday case meant “institutional change [was] required to improve and modernise our structures”. “I am fully committed to implementing the changes necessary,” she added."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":392.16,"text":"In his first public comments, Lord Chris Smith, chancellor of Cambridge since last year, told the FT he was “deeply concerned” by recent events and welcomed the role of external academics in the inquiry."}],[{"start":403.44,"text":"“It seems to me that there are two principles that are really important here. The first is to hold fast to the value of academic integrity, and if there are credible accusations of plagiarism about any academic, they must be rigorously and openly investigated,” said Smith, the university’s ceremonial head."}],[{"start":421.6,"text":"“The second is we mustn’t allow this unhappy affair to turn into a mob assault on diversity in academia,” he added. “I particularly fear for the impact it will have on good Black professors and academics across the university sector.”"}],[{"start":436.56,"text":"Questions of race are not new for either Oxford or Cambridge. In 2020 both cities witnessed protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, which prompted many departments to review their curriculums."}],[{"start":448.341,"text":"In the same period Oxford’s Oriel College was the focus of demonstrations over a prominent statue of Cecil Rhodes, the British imperialist and a donor. Despite calls for its removal over many years, the statue remains in place with added contextual information."}],[{"start":464.178,"text":"Lord Neil Mendoza, provost of Oriel, said the college had learnt from that dispute that DEI could “move beyond the college walls”, citing new exchanges with scholars from southern Africa, where Rhodes founded the De Beers mining company."}],[{"start":477.978,"text":"“We don’t know as a result [of the Rhodes Must Fall movement] whether our admissions were affected; however, we haven’t noticed a drop-off in applications for student or academic positions,” he said."}],[{"start":488.869,"text":"In Cambridge, where the usually lush green lawns are yellow from the latest heatwave and most students are away for the summer, the mood is mixed. Some academics are satisfied with plans for the inquiry to involve internal and external figures and hope for a renewed focus on DEI."}],[{"start":505.76,"text":"A senior university official defended its current policies and said the Arday case was “exceptional”, adding: “Most academics do not misrepresent themselves and tell falsehoods. No one can remember any other case like this, Black or white, male or female.”"}],[{"start":519.52,"text":"But others remain concerned that critics will stay on the attack, not least with Arday’s memoir due out this month, and seize on the scandal to question diversity policies beyond Cambridge and discredit the wider sector, which is facing significant financial pressures."}],[{"start":543.597,"text":"“This is a PR crisis,” said another senior Cambridge official, criticising the initially “defensive” institutional response. “We need to learn to do diversity, equality and inclusion differently because all has not gone well here.”"}],[{"start":550.32,"text":"Cambridge has been approached for comment."}],[{"start":552.511,"text":"For one Cambridge professor, meanwhile, the episode has exposed double standards in the experience of people of colour in academia."}],[{"start":559.704,"text":"“What Jason Arday did was terrible,” he said, of the allegations of plagiarism and exaggeration. “But if a mediocre white professor did something similar, which they have in the past, it’s not used as an excuse to stop hiring white people or for them to lose their jobs.”"}],[{"start":574.16,"text":"A picture caption has been updated to clarify that students are standing outside an Oxford university building"}],[{"start":585.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786668936_6715.mp3"}