Arday ‘Accused Student of White Privilege’ After She Questioned Mark

Jason Arday accused a student of having “white privilege” after she questioned her marks, it has been claimed.

The former University of Cambridge professor, who resigned last week amid allegations of dishonesty and academic plagiarism, is alleged to have implied that the student was racist after she complained about a low essay score.

The claim was made by a former student who described Mr Arday’s teaching during his 2018 tenure at the University of Roehampton as “terrible”.

The former student described his reaction to being asked for feedback, saying: “I now saw a side of him I’d never seen before – angry, but also scared. Arday implied that I was racist, and said that the only reason I wasn’t happy with 70 per cent was due to my ‘white privilege’.”

{snip}

The University of Cambridge has been accused of lowering its standards to hire Mr Arday as its youngest-ever black professor to improve its diversity, equality and inclusion credentials.

Writing for the news website UnHerd, the former student, who was given the pseudonym Fiona Brown, said Mr Arday gave her a mark of 70 per cent for the essay – below her average for the year – and she subsequently asked him for a meeting to provide feedback.

When she explained her dissatisfaction, she claimed that “suddenly, his friendly, confident demeanour changed” and he made the accusation of white privilege.

“He was clearly upset at being questioned, and I ended the meeting as quickly as possible,” she said.

The student, who said Mr Arday had left shortly after the interaction, questioned why none of his universities had “been prepared to point out that the emperor had no clothes” before he joined Cambridge.

{snip}