Cambridge Abandons Plans to Fully Investigate Its Hiring of Jason Arday

The University of Cambridge has abandoned plans to fully investigate its hiring of Jason Arday, the professor who became a lightning rod in the debate over diversity-and-inclusion efforts in higher education, following his abrupt death last month.

Instead, the university’s investigation announcement said, the inquiry will examine whether the school offered him sufficient support amid accusations that he plagiarized portions of his doctoral thesis and embellished his personal narrative. Dr. Arday may come up as part of a broader look at university hiring practices, but he will not be a focus.

That would mark an abrupt shift from the plan announced this summer, when the school’s vice chancellor, Deborah Prentice, promised a “thorough and transparent” investigation into Dr. Arday’s appointment.

{snip}

The university initially declined to comment on the change. In a statement after this article published, it said it had not changed its plans and remained committed to transparency. “The independent external review will determine and examine all relevant issues regarding Professor Jason Arday’s time at the university, including the university’s recruitment and appointment processes for senior academic staff and how our policies and processes were followed,” the statement read.

That goes further than the investigation announcement published by the university earlier this month. {snip}

The change upset some professors, who are circulating a letter demanding full institutional accountability and an examination of how the university promoted Dr. Arday’s personal story, according to a draft seen by The New York Times.

{snip}

Cambridge has appointed a respected former prosecutor to lead the review but has narrowed the scope. The investigation is “not about the allegations made against Professor Arday or about his academic record,” the former prosecutor, Nazir Afzal, said recently. “It’s about his welfare, his care, his well-being.”

{snip}