Andrew Gelman is Professor of Statistics and Political Science at Columbia University. He’s famous for his book (co-authored with others) on Bayesian Data Analysis. His substack has tackled the emerging scandal at Cambridge University here, comparing it to the Theranos scandal and noting that both contained “a charismatic and wildly ambitious pathological liar who told people a story they wanted to hear“.
And in a second posting here, he asked: “Who’s the most pitiful person in the Cambridge University fraud scandal?”
He considers Jason Arday, Carter-Ruck, Times Higher Education, Rhys Morgan, Hilary Cremin, Dave Harris, Martyn Hammersley, Nathan Cofnas, Bhaskar Vira, the “dastardly” Cambridge University Legal Department, before rejecting them all. He concludes that it was the unnamed University spokesman who told Retraction Watch that Arday was a “victim of a vile campaign to undermine his credibility” and that he had been cleared of “allegations of plagiarism regarding his thesis and journal publications.”
Bing bing bing! This is my nomination for the most pitiful, sorry-ass person in the entire story: whoever is the “spokesperson for Cambridge” who gave them that statement.
Think about it:
- To say such a thing requires a complete lack of self-respect, a willingness to tell an immediately refutable lie in public. This spokesperson is in the position of Winston Smith saying 2 + 2 = 5, or a press officer having to make sense of whatever stupid lie a politician said that day.
- But, unlike Winston Smith, the spokesperson is not under physical threat, and, unlike the press officer, the spokesperson can’t pretend to justify the lying as serving some larger political purpose. Loyalty to Cambridge University is one thing, but loyalty to some colorful asshole (sorry, I forgot my English; that should be “colourful arsehole”) who fabricated his data? That’s no principle at all.
- And, unlike the various lawyers and administrators mentioned above, this spokesperson is presumably not well-paid. [From Andrew Gelman’ substack posting]
The unnamed individual is a compelling choice, but is constrained by economic circumstances to debase himself or herself in public. We feel sorry for him or her.
Our candidate faces a different and more profound constraint: the tragedy of possessing the intellectual tools to understand a system while being trapped inside it.
Our candidate for the title of the “most pitiful person” is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Deborah Prentice. She fits this description because her own academic expertise illuminates the very institutional problems that her leadership appears unable to overcome. She embodies the painful gap between what someone knows, what they can see, and what they are ultimately able to do. Bing bing bing!
Deborah Prentice’s research on social norms, conformity and pluralistic ignorance examines how individuals and organisations can become trapped by collective assumptions. She has built a career studying how people accept the status quo because they believe change is impossible or because they assume others support existing arrangements. Yet, as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, she presides over one of the most hierarchical and tradition-focused institutions in all of higher education.
The irony is uncomfortable: the person who understands institutional conformity best is now the guardian of one of academia’s most resistant institutions.
Her position reveals a deeper contradiction. A scholar who has analysed how social systems limit individual action now occupies a role where she must defend, manage and reproduce those same systems. Rather than challenging entrenched structures, she is forced into the role of protecting reputation, balancing competing interests and avoiding disruptions that might threaten institutional stability. Prentice’s intellectual insights become a source of frustration rather than power.
This is what makes her a pitiful figure.
She is not pitiful because she lacks intelligence or achievement. She has that in plenty. She is pitiful because she possesses the tools to diagnose Cambridge’s problems, but is embedded in a system that forbids fundamental change and destroys those who want it.
Her career has therefore become a tragic and grotesque paradox: the expert on social constraints has become constrained by the very forces she has spent her life studying.
And now that paradox is no longer merely theoretical. It is being played out publicly, in full view of the world’s media.
113 Comments
Los Gatos · 30 July 2026 at 16:45
For a long time I have joked that Netflix will make a series about this one day (as they have done for Theranos) but now you would have a hard time convincing me that they will /not/ make a show on it. I mean, what’s not to like? The material is fucking hilarious – and the position of the, um, ‘trapped’ Princeton provost, doddery, deceived, nodding along to her manipulating underlings while giving talks on her research on conformity and groupthink is simply comedy gold. But really all of the characters are amazing. Who will play Jason Arday? Who will play Munir, Cremin or Evans? There’s stuff here so fucking hilarious that if you submitted it as a script they’d say you were being over the top – the professor being taken to court for racism, who then hires Cambridge’s youngest black professor and parades him like a pet on BBC News, the academics who sign off on legal threat letters rather than respond to integrity issues with substantive facts and corrections on the record, the high table events with sloshing wine and four courses where all of this is planned and discussed, it is going to be a feast for viewers all over the world. And with the interest in Arday a big American audience is now guaranteed.
21percent.org · 30 July 2026 at 16:59
There’s truth in your posting, it is a fucking amazing story.
Many more PhD theses will be written about Arday’s PhD thesis. Many academics will pore over this in years to come. Many more books to be written.
And you’re right. This is NetFlix, and everyone loves the dinky Colleges and the punting.
We’re just at the end of Season 2. How many Seasons to go — at least six, I guess?
Some great Cambridge subplots as well, Goldhill jumping on female students and stuffing his tongue in their ear, etc.
Do suggest some casting choices for Prentice, Cremin, etc ?
First draft · 30 July 2026 at 17:16
Don’t forget the episode where the Princeton provost turns up dazed and confused at court, in front of the whole world, and is left stumbling to respond, while the insider schemers who wrote her letters look on with a glass of red
Rose L · 30 July 2026 at 17:25
True. How many American woman entertain the fantasy of one day like Prentice landing as leader of Cambridge, the American girl with the Hermione Granger alter, and are surrounded by these nice-talking English men and women, and will be transfixed as it slowly transforms in to a nightmare trap? This will crush the ratings from Nevada to New Hampshire!!!
TheResearcher · 30 July 2026 at 17:51
Yes, Prentice is a very pitiful person, and will likely be remembered as one of the worst VCs Cambridge had because in a situation of crisis froze and left the place burning without leader, but she gets £50K every month and will leave to the US so perhaps she does not care that much with her image in the UK?
Meanwhile… Again, I do not think these people are make any effort to see the data.
“Jason Arday is being targeted by persistent, unfounded plagiarism allegations, prompting warnings about the wider impact on aspiring Black and brown leaders”
https://www.blackcurrentnews.co.uk/p/jason-arday-unfounded-plagiarism-allegations-campaign
Brendan · 30 July 2026 at 18:05
Arguably US image worse at this point but who can say
Oliver · 30 July 2026 at 19:42
Her problem is there is no obvious off-ramp.
She can’t leave the institution with such a depleted senior management team, no registrary, no CFO, down two pro-VCs. The place was working in a fashion when she arrived. She has to get it back off life-support before she can go.
Fingertrap · 30 July 2026 at 19:57
This is the trap, right? Every passing month, more and more wheels fall off the train. Now it is teetering to the point it will derail entirely and take everyone down in the canyon. There is no off ramp.
The only fix is a genuinely democratic solution – completely open debate and competition to propose new ideas and solutions with no holds barred.
TheResearcher · 30 July 2026 at 20:19
Do you guys remember when a few months ago the 21 Group was alerting Cambridge members and the public at large that the University was moving towards the iceberg? The 21 Group asked,
“Perhaps it is time for the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellors to reconsider their course — instead of accelerating further on a trajectory towards icebergs?”
https://21percent.org/?p=3509
They decided to accelerate and put the final gear. The current consequences were inevitable. Their silence will not solve the situation because the number of scandals will continue to rise in the press until serious measures are put in place, and by that I mean EXTERNAL AUDIT of practices associated with reports of misconduct. All victims of serious abuses at Cambridge deserve this independent investigation.
EtonMess · 30 July 2026 at 17:55
‘A scholar who has analysed how social systems limit individual action now occupies a role where she must defend, manage and reproduce those same systems.’
This post reminds me of a colleague. He remarked that most people are willing to sacrifice a lot for power and prestige.
Professor · 30 July 2026 at 20:21
The regent house needs to act. If the university leadership will not protect the institution, then it is up to the faculty.
Old Timer · 30 July 2026 at 23:14
Agreed. The public circulation of a draft Grace in preparation for the new year may be enough to precipitate action.
Old Schools Refugee · 30 July 2026 at 21:24
To lose one member of the senior leadership team (O’Brien) is a misfortune. To lose two (Rampton) looks like carelessness. To lose three (Munir) is a disastrous pattern. Call in the consultants! Time for a restructure!
Nobody can steer towards the off ramp because there’s no-one driving. That at least isn’t the VC’s fault. Cambridge with it’s ponderous Council, byzantine committees and largely dormant Regent House isn’t constructed that way.
The normal governance mechanisms are now in sleep mode until October. No Graces can be proposed or voted on. Discussions cannot be held. Meanwhile the runaway train carries on: FOI requests, petitions, bad press, maybe further senior departures…
Enraged · 30 July 2026 at 22:04
What you are describing is corruption – public money simply being stolen. The VC is paid fucking 40 or 50 grand every fucking month. If she is not working right now to fix this she should not be simply fired, she should be in jail. Sorry but that is just how it is.
21percent.org · 30 July 2026 at 22:38
The likelihood is she can’t solve this problem because of in-fighting & no agreement on way forward
Claudine Gay went from major public allegations (Dec 2023) through institutional denial to resignation (Jan 2, 2024) in roughly 2–3 weeks.
That’s typical timescale for these scandals.
EtonMess · 31 July 2026 at 07:32
It’s almost 100% certain she’s not working to fix the problem of research misconduct.
No denialist is trying to fix the problem of research misconduct.
To the contrary.
I share your outrage.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 07:51
True that it would not have taken long to say in a short press release,
“Research integrity is a cornerstone of Cambridge University. There will now be a full investigation into what has happened, whilst protecting Prof Jason Arday’s rights to due process”
This would have held the press for a few days.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 08:04
They know that the data are clear, that they knew about it for years, and that they even hired Carter-Ruck to silence journalists. A “full investigation” by external and independent parties that has access to all the material will expose all these details of the story, and surely many managers still think that the cover-up route is the way to go. That is their only approach. If they still resist after all this media attention, people can now imagine what they do to whistleblowers internally when they report misconduct.
Nooo!! · 30 July 2026 at 22:08
More consultants is the last thing we need. What we need is more democracy less oligarchy and an enlivened Regent House. Too many Regents don’t participate. The price of the privilege of an Oxbridge post is some interest in the government of the place.
Skin in the Game · 30 July 2026 at 22:20
Sure 11,000 people have signed the I support Arday petition. BUT if Arday announced to the world he had just passed pilot basic training and invited them to fly with him – how many of them would actually board the flight?
Anonymous · 31 July 2026 at 09:37
I think more than a few of us would love to put the entire university leadership on board that plane
TheResearcher · 30 July 2026 at 23:55
https://www.aymennaltamimi.com/p/a-plagiarism-and-fraud-scandal-at
“I suspect also that Cambridge University’s attempt to protect Arday is not a mere matter of stereotypical ‘wokeism’ and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. When an institution feels that a ‘star’ figure is under intense criticism or attack, there is likely an instinctive reaction to protect that figure. It reminds me a bit of Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, once hailed as a pioneer in regenerative medicine, implanting plastic scaffolds seeded with stem cells in the hope that they would turn into fully functioning replacement tracheas for patients. Besides being guilty of research fraud, Macchiarini also had a habit of exaggerating and lying about his accomplishments and his personal affairs- a bit like Arday and his various claims about marathon feats and playing soccer and snooker. When internal concerns were raised about Macchiarini’s research conduct, the world-renowned Karolinska Institute where he worked chose to protect him and clear him of allegations of research misconduct.”
EtonMess · 31 July 2026 at 07:36
It’s a reaction to protect the institutional brand. Not the figure.
The institution isn’t bothered about the celebrity professor anymore than they are bothered about victims of research misconduct.
They’re concern is the brand and the brand representatives’ abilities to keep representing the brand. Only this.
? · 31 July 2026 at 10:05
“They’re concern is the brand and the brand representatives’ abilities to keep representing the brand. Only this.”
That they do not give a fuck about the brand became obvious this week.
Their ability to keep “representing” the brand though – I think that just became obvious.
EtonMess · 1 August 2026 at 09:33
Great reply.
‘That they do not give a fuck about the brand became obvious this week.’
Laughed out loud.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 07:07
The critic just covered the Arday case here:
https://thecritic.co.uk/arday-in-wonderland/
Their take is all about racism: “both sides claim the other is entirely racially motivated”
Is it so hard to believe that some people value academic integrity regardless of race politics?
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 07:20
The article is mainly about the Race Equality Charter (REC)
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 07:17
https://www.thetimes.com/article/4f4726be-b0ff-4bef-aa5f-9fdc3a77e594?shareToken=44ca81a08d663e6f9a0e0ed32b91e84c
Tett is a star, she knows exactly what to say. She knows the importance of optics.
“Yes. Whether it’s a financial crisis or whether it’s a corporate scandal, nine times out of ten, from my experience, it’s not because you have a bunch of people trying to be deliberately stupid or mad or greedy even. It’s because they’re trapped in a system whereby there’s such a silo problem in terms of how people operate and think that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 07:41
I agree that her responses have been much better than the University’s whose managers simply buried their heads in the sand. She even says, “For what it’s worth, I’m a passionate believer in accountability and responsibility and transparency,” which I cannot imagine the VC and ProVCs saying let alone practicing.
However, Tett knows that sexual harassment is not the only problem of Cambridge University, and she says little about it. Of course, she had to focused on the recent events of her own college, but when she talks about Oxbridge broadly, the larger problem is the culture of cover up of misconduct and retaliation of whistleblowers.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 07:54
The comparison is just brutal.
Tett versus Munir, knockout
Tett versus Prentice, knockout
Tett versus any other HoH (except Doug Chalmers), knockout
Doug is good.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 08:06
Why is Doug Chalmers good?
Hands Off the Research · 31 July 2026 at 08:46
This article reads like a response to commentary about research misconduct and university cover up on the 21 Group blog. Classic to change the topic.
‘Gillian Tett: Oxbridge has a problem with ‘handsy’ men’
Yup, handsy’s one euphemism.
It’s handsy for a man to plagiarise large portions of a woman academic’s PhD thesis. Seems a little handsy to use public funds to pay for Carter Ruck too.
Tett says there are more handsy men at Oxbridge. Seems handsy for a university to be covering up their names and hands in others’ scholarship. Tett should check out how much of that scholarship is written by women, the main targets of groping at Oxbridge. Pinch the bums, pinch from the research, what’s the difference.
Research misconduct and institutional cover up is literally handsy, Tett, you’re quite right indeed. Good we agree. Except…. there’s no authorities saying ‘hands off’ and ‘hands up’ so the problem and cover up continues.
I was never a handsy man myself but surely it must be time for all hands on deck to stop the research misconduct and cover up.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 08:55
Natch, Gillian Tett has her own agenda. Her Provostship is coming to an end. She’s looking for a big media job. She’ll get one.
We suspect it is unconnected with Arday — which because Gillian Tett is smart, she won’t comment on. Unlike the 4 Heads of House who have unwisely committed themselves and will probably face a reckoning. Alumni apparently already writing to Jesus College, suspect the same will happen for Fitzwilliam, Homerton & Wolfson.
Absolutely agree we must now all stop the research misconduct and cover up. This is top priority.
Hands off the Research · 31 July 2026 at 09:12
I suppose I’ve missed the real ulterior motive behind this handsy men article.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 09:15
😉
can't take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination · 31 July 2026 at 09:48
No wonder Cambridge won the award for the UK’s “top employer”. Professors can sexually harass students, steal their work, and engage in flagrant defamation against anyone who challenges their acts, and the university will hire the best lawyers in the world to defend them from critique while using their connections in the BBC or Guardian to kill any stories from appearing in the press.
In a post-#MeToo world, very few employers still offer such a package.
Correction · 31 July 2026 at 07:54
The problem isn’t just sexual harassment by men. It is that when other men spoke out about harassment and defended women who were abused, they too were slandered, bullied, and forced out of the university. This is not about gender but about power. The relentless abuse of power to attack anyone who challenges the Cambridge hierarchy.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 07:56
Agreed, 100%
- · 31 July 2026 at 08:06
@ Correction
You have nailed it. The same people who protect Arday are the exact same who protected Goldhill.
It’s not about race or gender. The reason was the same. He was part of their tribe and a part of the same power system.
Hands Off the Research · 31 July 2026 at 09:05
Handsy men stick together.
Play your hands right (as Tett is doing) and you’ll go far in university administration.
Lend a hand to others and be called the one who bites the hand that feeds you.
On ladies’ bums or in their research the handsy-ness is all part of the same problem. Too many administrations are hands off about complaints they should take seriously and won’t put their hands up to say I’m sorry when wrong.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 08:15
True. Any person who challenges the Cambridge hierarchy is abused and ultimate expelled, staff and students. Tett focused on sexual harassment by men because of the behaviour of her Fellows Simon Goldhill and Herbert Huppert but still, at least she acknowledged the problem in her own House and is taking measures to address the issue. The comparison with the University’s senior leadership is striking.
Raven · 31 July 2026 at 08:29
“11,000 people have signed the I support Arday petition”
Heart-breaking that there are so many people who (despite their education) are unable to recognise the merits of a sound argument based on solid evidence, yielding true conclusions.
It has been demonstrated beyond doubt that there was substantial plagiarism in Arday’s work. It doesn’t matter who made that argument.
That is the principle of scholarship. The scholar shows their premise, their method, their evidence, their working, their thought process, so that others can follow it, agree, disagree, spot errors, improve on it. Scholarship is an invitation to agree or refute, and to continue the search or debate.
11,000 people are not responding to an invitation to refute the argument. They are presenting no evidence to undermine it. They’ve skipped that scholarly process entirely to argue about motive.
That is the sad state of Cambridge, the sad state of scholarship.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 08:36
You can sign multiple times with different email addresses. Names have not been published (apart from a few high profile supporters)
Raven · 31 July 2026 at 08:45
…so the only evidence (of the number of supporters) turns out to be no evidence at all…?
Skepta · 31 July 2026 at 08:57
“You can sign multiple times with different email addresses”
Maybe this is what Jason has been up to all week?
Hard Numbers · 31 July 2026 at 09:16
Over 1.6 million people watched the Good Law Project tweet / video on X, and surely a similar number on Tiktok and other platforms. So 11k is actually a really bad showing. That’s 0.65% of those reached via X; probably less than 0.5% of their final audience whereas 99.5% + said “nah, don’t think so”. And if you look at the comments underneath the videos the response is overwhelming – person after person mocking the GLP and not a single person backing Arday. Even among persons of color it is the same.
100% · 31 July 2026 at 09:24
Yeah of course. If it is the 99% vs. the 1% then of course Cambridge is going to take the side of the 1 percent.
PrincetonTiger · 31 July 2026 at 10:52
To describe someone complicit (by commision and omission) in grievous wrongdoing as “pathetic”, when that very same person is being honoured and remunerated abundantly for her complicity, rather stretches credulity. It ought occur to any shrewd and experienced observer that Prentice’s very purported academic expertise is exactly why she would be attractive to the broadly financial interests which motivate the university oligarchy (so to speak). It ought also occur to any such person reasonably to infer that Prentice might well *have known and still know* this fact, and exploited it in her own interests.. Without malice, I rather conjecture that she may well have partly pitched herself as someone who, because her “expertise” in social psychology is the mechanisms of institutional “conformity”, is capable of entrenching practices which administratively promote such conformity, albeit with a smiling face.
Some commentators seem to assume that, her being American, means she was and is, rather in the manner of a Henry James ingenue, captured by her naivete in some sophisticated European trap.
Such commentators prove they know little of the egregiously systematic administrative wrongdoing which is endemic at Princeton – a wrongdoing enabled as de facto authorised practice because it’s status as a private university pretty much grants it “deference” by external legal bodies which otherwise have powers of judicial or quasi-judicial scrutiny.
They also discount the likely fact that, in her worldview, and that of Princeton’s, Cambridge is more or less a provincial institution whose recalcitrant “traditions” of governance are in desperate need of the academic metropole’s caring reform.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 11:40
A few days ago, a Professor of Princeton wrote regarding the Arday saga, “This scandal appears to combine the worst aspects of the recent Harvard debacles, with Cambridge University somehow doing a far worse job of control and comms.”
I am not sure this would happen at Harvard or Princeton, but in the middle of this mess, the Executive Director of Cambridge Comms Mr James Helm, decides to go on holidays early this week and will only come back on August 4. No wonder the University has been silent on this case.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 12:59
Do say more about the “systematic administrative wrongdoing which is endemic at Princeton”.
The Cambridge standard lore is that she was a good Provost of Princeton
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 10:21
The post of Lord Simon Woolley, Master of Homerton, in Linkedin is surreal.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/lord-simon-woolley_in-solidarity-with-prof-jason-arday-and-others-activity-7488250654881198080-Wcpy
Did he also have the same solidarity by the student of his own college who received death threats from classmates a few months ago? Strikingly, the students who sent the death threats were not even suspended if I remember correctly.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 10:25
Lord Michael Hastings tells us, “The tragedy is that there is a pathetic debate raging over tiny lines of credibility when in the big picture, here is an outstanding academic “
Class / Merit · 31 July 2026 at 10:34
This is Britain in a nutshell. Our Lords and masters are coming out to inform the common folk why they are wrong to challenge their privilege to bestow favour on whomever they like.
99% versus the 1% indeed.
The far right are wrong on this – anyone who values merit should emigrate.
Raven · 31 July 2026 at 10:41
“here is an outstanding academic”
That is merely an assertion – as yet unsupported by evidence. It does not matter who makes an assertion, Lord, Doctor, Professor or otherwise.
To be credible and acceptable as true in a scholarly environment the assertion has to be supported by verifiable evidence.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 10:52
Raven, there are people who do not look at evidence. It does not matter how clear and abundant it is because they will simply not look at it and will instead decide based on personal convictions. Cambridge University has many people with this kind of character and they are having a major impact on the lives of others who do not.
Experts vs "Experts" · 31 July 2026 at 11:18
These lords are not academics. They have no professional capacity to judge plagiarism, not least in a case that the university never bothered to investigate and which senior academic experts (e.g. Gelman) have already considered clear and flagrant acts of academic fraud. This only shows that they should not be allowed to influence education or educational policy and that their appointments were a terrible mistake.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 12:22
https://x.com/jessesingal/status/2082151987131388265
“Everybody who has looked into these claims has found no evidence of plagiarism.”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 12:26
Asch Conformity Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIh4MkcfJA
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 12:59
Simon Baron-Cohen new comment.
“We should of course always investigate plagiarism to protect academic standards. However, I cannot stand by and watch when an autistic man is on the ground and the kicking continues. This is relentless bullying of a vulnerable autistic man and raises safe-guarding issues. It’s time to stop.”
https://x.com/sbaroncohen/status/2083151353514242459
Rotisserie · 31 July 2026 at 15:41
Baron-Cohen is getting a roasting in the comments and QTs. E.g.:
If Sir Simon wanted to protect Professor Arday’s mental health, circulating a letter which accused anyone who had doubts about his research of racism was pretty much the worst thing he could possibly have done.
https://x.com/yuanyi_z/status/2083192524504445311
Extraordinary levels of attempted emotional coercion here, all to cover up for the fact that they hired and then lauded a fraudster.
First we were all racists for insisting on honesty and standards.
Now we are precipitating his suicide.
https://x.com/lordthurlow/status/2083186907429626363
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 15:52
It’s brutal
“Your round robin petition bears some responsibility for spiking the original Times Higher Education story along with Arday/Cambridge decision to instruct Carter-Ruck. That has been a gift to right wing media. You’re reaping what you sowed”
https://x.com/DrMartinMyers/status/2083176465609216401
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 15:59
If Professor Baron-Cohen is so concerned about the health of Professor Arday, not only he should have thought carefully before signing that unreasonable GLP letter, but also he would do well in enquiring how the cover-up and retaliatory practices of his institution affect the health of its students, and how the managers of the institution, knowing these effects, look the other way even when presented with GP letters.
I would be very keen to talk to Professor Baron-Cohen personally about these matters.
Sam Davies · 31 July 2026 at 16:50
Baron Cohen’s institution has just received a massive donation and accompanying PR blitz https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-sir-simon-baron-cohen-to-head-new-autism-research-institute/
No chance he’s going to recant.
Anger · 31 July 2026 at 15:58
16.00 hours, Day 11 of the Scandal.
No statement from Cambridge University. They are seriously going into the second weekend with no statement.
Furious, this is just amateurish. We pay people all this money and they are rank
I predict a bloodbath
Autist · 31 July 2026 at 16:22
I agree with Simon Baron Cohen. Our fury should be directed at the cynical, self-interested, narcissistic idiots in the university who manipulated and used Arday for their own selfish purposes, without thinking for a second of the risks involved. That was abuse — pure and simple. And SBC is guilty also. This is his fault and their fault. And it is far from the only mental health abuse case at the university.
Jay · 31 July 2026 at 16:30
Hard agree. That list begins:: Simon Baron-Cohen, Ricardo Sabates, Hilary Cremin, Bhaskar Vira, Kamal Munir …
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 16:40
“it is far from the only mental health abuse case at the university”
This is very true, and it may well be true that Arday was also a victim of this scandal, but nothing prevents him from coming forward and explain his position, namely the hiring of Carter-Ruck to silence journalists. If he was instructed to do that, he should explain who instructed him because his recent post “If only academia could hold itself to the same high standards as the legal proffesion. Carter-Ruck are almost as inspirational as me” does not help those who think the hiring of Carter-Ruck was an absolute shame.
https://bsky.app/profile/profjasonarday.bsky.social/post/3mrrlu5llok2z
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 16:42
Fair to point out that the veracity of the bluesky tweet has been contested
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 16:56
I know, but not by Arday himself, am I right? Regardless, people need to know why Carter-Ruck was hired to silence journalists. As published articles say that it was Arday, not the University, who enrolled this firm, he should be the one clarifying that behaviour or he is expecting that people will simply ignore this and carry on? Relatedly, didn’t he say this in a Sociology conference last April?
“You get the email and they say you conducted academic misconduct. And you think to yourself, ‘Well this is incredible. I’m on the back foot here. How do I defend myself against this machine?” he said. “The instruments that are designed to protect academic integrity, designed to protect our wellbeing and our intellectual property, are weaponised.”
My view is that both the University and him have to explain their behaviour.
Abusers · 31 July 2026 at 16:52
From the start of this horrific episode, members of this group have expressed empathy with Arday, their feelings of shock and shame, have advised that he open up and ask for understanding, and condemned the way in which he was used and manipulated. That is what it means to treat a person with genuine compassion and kindness. What love have his so-called “protectors” in the university shown? What have they said or done that was truly in support of his best interests rarher than simply protecting their own?
Autist · 31 July 2026 at 17:09
I am more than ever convinced that SBC is also autistic – and while that is a wonderful thing, it does raise the question of whether he is a person with the necessary level of emotional intelligence to be the person helping Jason through this crisis right now. I mean, consider that SBC’s tweet starts by citing his own academic study – both naval-gazing but also contextually bizarre – when what he should have done was lead, with his own feelings, and then, address upfront with contrition the very well-grounded public concerns over SBC’s role in creating this horrible situation. Instead he frames his concerns with an academic study and then (without permision? He does not say) speaks “for” Arday in a way I genuinely fear, if not done with consent, may only render the man’s torture even worse.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 17:51
While the University sleeps, journalists keep working…
https://spectator.com/article/professor-arday-is-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 18:08
This is carnage.
The University should by now have put out a press release that says:
(i) we stand by our core values of academic integrity and high standards,
(ii) there will be an investigation that respects due process for Prof Arday.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 18:52
The University “should” but the managers who would have to approve that decision cannot afford it because if the case is thoroughly investigated, many of them will have to be sacked and thus they are in the self-protection mode.
To some degree, this case is just another case of cover up of misconduct. It is no different than mine, Wyn Evans’s, Roberto Foa’s and many others. The institutional culture is the same. But in this case, they decided to play the race card, and it backfired because the case is so bluntly obvious that is embarrassing them all. Cambridge University managed to be within a few months not only the “UK’s Best Employer” but also the “World’s Most Mocked University” because of the leaders it has, leaders who are weak, incompetent and corrupt. They will not assume responsibility and vacant their chair. That is too much to ask to people who do not have solid principles. They will have to be kicked out by the integrous members of the University.
Self-Plagiarist · 31 July 2026 at 19:40
“And so, the artifices of process and policy, used and abused in a court-inspired pantomime turn an academic institution into a theatre of the absurd. Helpfully drafted conclusions, which are no longer their own, enable its most senior people to be “responsible” without accountability for the judgement they make, and to argue unashamedly that the implausible is indeed plausible, the indefensible defensible, and the institution’s values a thing of the past.”
July 2023
Anon · 31 July 2026 at 18:50
It’s a strange day when the 21 Group is providing Cambridge with far better advice on how to protect its reputation than whatever is coming from its own PR office. But that is quite literally where we are.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 19:36
And another in The Telegraph:
“Academics express disquiet over university’s refusal to re-examine Prof Jason Arday’s credentials”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/31/cambridge-bosses-face-staff-revolt-diversity-poster-boy/
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 19:57
What about Varsity you may wonder? Why didn’t they publish anything on the topic yet?
I just sent another email to the editors asking them to ignore any pressure from the University.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 20:24
“In a first concession from Cambridge, it announced that “research misconduct” will be discussed at a forthcoming meeting of a committee that could “make a recommendation to review our academic misconduct procedures.”
“The Telegraph has learnt that a draft resolution, known as a Grace, is circulating among senior members of Cambridge’s academic stressing the importance of academic integrity and requesting an investigation into alleged shortcomings in the Research Policy, Integrity and Governance division (RPIG).”
“If the Grace is submitted to the Regent House – effectively Cambridge’s parliament – and is passed by it, it would be “virtually a no confidence motion in the vice-chancellor”, in the words of one academic source.”
“Processes and procedures around research misconduct are incredibly important and research misconduct will be discussed at the next research policy committee meeting, the body formally responsible. According to university governance, it is this body that would make a recommendation to review our academic misconduct procedures.”
To be clear, there is nothing in the current Policy that prevents Cambridge from doing the investigation as I had the chance to remind Professor John Aston and Dr Rhys Morgan a few days ago.
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 20:25
Just released, quoted in Telegraph.
“We take allegations of academic misconduct incredibly seriously. It is university procedure that investigations are carried out by the institution at which the research was undertaken.
“This is standard practice in the sector because that institution has access to the information to ensure a full and fair investigation. We have either advised complainants to approach the relevant institution or passed on complaints.
“Allegations of plagiarism regarding Prof Arday’s thesis and some of his journal publications have been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University and the journals in question.
“Processes and procedures around research misconduct are incredibly important and research misconduct will be discussed at the next research policy committee meeting, the body formally responsible. According to university governance, it is this body that would make a recommendation to review our academic misconduct procedures.”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 20:34
And another one asking if Arday can be sacked. What about consequences to the University?!?!?!?!?
https://statement.com/1274223/could-jason-arday-lose-his-cambridge-professorship-over-plagiarism
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 20:35
Too slow! 😂
Durkheim's Ghost · 31 July 2026 at 20:52
It is not Arday who needs investigation but the idiots on his hiring committee who have him a professorship at Cambridge without obviously bothering to read his work or identify that it was replete with fraudulent interviews, spelling mistakes and unreadable syntax and meaningless statements. Is their work the same? Then they must all resign or be sacked.
The Professor · 31 July 2026 at 20:52
The Times has a new comment on this. They keep coming, and no official action from the university.
https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/we-all-fib-just-stop-before-you-reach-the-top-x3jtbctld
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:06
They will decide in the forthcoming committee meeting if an investigation is needed… What a bunch of useless people!
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:00
Arday landed in Canada:
“A professor claimed to have run 30 marathons in 35 days … several on a broken leg”
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/dei-meltdown-at-a-british-university-shows-why-we-need-more-skepticism
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:14
“Clinical psychologist Simon Baron Cohen, a professor at Trinity College Cambridge, went further: he played both the autism and suicide-risk cards. “(Arday) continues to be systematically discredited over every detail of his life, daily,” he wrote, while conceding “we should of course always investigate plagiarism to protect academic standards.” (So where exactly does that leave us?)”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:45
“Jason Arday: I am not a liar, says star academic accused of plagiarism”
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/jason-arday-university-cambridge-plagiarism-kwfk6sm6c
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:48
“In his first interview since he was accused of plagiarising the work of other academics, Arday told The Times: “It’s soul-destroying because I’ve done everything I can to try and do the best I can. And I’m not saying that I’m perfect and I never tried to present this fairytale narrative that I am. I don’t think people realise that there’s a human being at the end of this. And they don’t realise that that human being is someone’s father or a son.
“I am accountable for the mistakes I’ve made. I hold myself accountable and other people should hold me accountable. We’re talking about academia here. I didn’t murder somebody. I think the cruelty that I’ve experienced and the positioning of me as this kind of liar and fantasist is totally unacceptable.””
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:51
“He attributed some errors in his early academic work to his autism, saying that his method of making sense of information relied heavily on mimicry. He argued that if anyone’s academic work had been subjected to as much scrutiny it would show similar errors. “
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:53
“In a sign of the toxicity of the row, a journalist investigating the sceptics’ claims was reported to the police by Arday for alleged harassment. The Metropolitan Police investigated but closed the case. “
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:55
“The university set up the panel, which cleared Arday, after complaints were received last year. Arday’s work contained passages that were identical or highly similar to the work of Paula Zwozdiak-Myers, a Brunel University student, published six years earlier. The statistical chances of Arday using the same words have since been calculated as one in 100 billion.”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:56
“The panel concluded in March that the citation issues were a result of “honest and reasonable error” and also detailed that the text overlap with Zwozdiak-Myers was “well within the accepted range of compliance with the academic standards of the time”. “
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 21:59
“He said the papers were peer-reviewed but errors slipped through, and there had been big improvements in his work over time. “At the stage I’m at now, if I write something, I can afford a proofreader,” he said. “You’ll see there’s a very big difference between the work I wrote post-2021 and the work I’ve written up until now. My writing is a lot better, purely because I can afford a proofreader to read through everything I’ve done and sharpen up the language.””
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 22:05
My favourites are:
“He stood by his record of running 30 marathons in 35 days, 300 miles in three days on the treadmill and 600 miles in 12 days. He said that he did not raise all the money for charity but was part of a syndicate of about 100 people, but when he spoke at events or to the press the coverage focused on him. ”
“Asked why he did not correct the narrative, he said: “Could I have ever guessed that somebody would literally come through every single word I’ve ever said on that? There’s no way because I never, ever guessed I’d ever be in this position.”
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 22:31
We have Elon Musk in the room calling Baron-Cohen a liar…
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2083298912228573272
21percent.org · 31 July 2026 at 23:06
We are told that senior individuals from the University read the 21 Group blog pages.
If that is the case, and if they possess any compassion or sound judgement, the planned US book launch of Arday’s memoir on 11 August should be reconsidered and, ideally, postponed.
From Musk to Vance to Trump is only a short leap.
Exposing Arday to the volatile, often hostile arena of US media, celebrity and politics would be a serious misjudgement. It is difficult to see how he could reasonably be expected to cope in such an environment, especially given what we have seen in The Times interview.
EtonMess · 1 August 2026 at 09:53
I’m kind of reminded of when the palace wasn’t commenting on the death of Diana. Public outrage grew and spread by the day. They finally had to make a statement.
In this case, the number of articles and tweets about the Arday plagiarisim are growing by the day, and they are spreading. The outrage and feelings of betrayal are loud and clear.
21 Group, you’re right that once this story hits mainstream newspapers in America, it won’t be good for Arday or Cambridge. It won’t be good for Arday because the race wars are worse in America. It won’t be good for Cambridge because it could tip prospective students toward US and Canadian universities when they already have competitive advantages.
If university administrators read this blog, they ought to take a hard look at their Office of Research Misconduct and ask, why must whistleblowers go to the media to be taken seriously?
Autistica · 31 July 2026 at 23:08
I will take Elon’s views on autism over the whinings of a random academic any day, any time. He’s got auto-ethnographic evidence, after all.
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 23:25
Arday was lucky that Musk did not see his article in The Times today because if he calls Baron-Cohen a liar, not clear what he would called him. That interview is surreal, “Could I have ever guessed that somebody would literally come through every single word I’ve ever said on that? There’s no way because I never, ever guessed I’d ever be in this position.”
Meanwhile in the UK…
https://hasthebbcreportedonjasonardayyet.com/
TheResearcher · 31 July 2026 at 23:56
More from Musk…
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2083298711052947460
Grace · 1 August 2026 at 00:57
This Telegraph article mentions a grace:
https://archive.ph/pGRce
How to sign?
TheResearcher · 1 August 2026 at 04:47
Daily Mail…
“By September, an article was on the verge of publication, only for Carter-Ruck to send off its five-page letter, which threatened dire consequences should any such claim of wrongdoing be made.”
“Of course, whether the professor’s academic reputation (along with that of his employers at Cambridge) is also about to vanish remains to be seen.”
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16020603/outcry-Left-predictable-Cambridges-diversity-poster-boy-claims-plagiarism-sporting-charitable-achievements.html
Where is Carter-Ruck now?
Unreasonably Persistent Achiever · 1 August 2026 at 06:29
Any university that expels people for “Unreasonably Persistent Behaviour” is engaging in systematic discrimination against autists everywhere.
Didn’t Isaac Newton have UPB? Didn’t Alan Turing?
UPB is the foundation of every single achievement in scientific history.
Ever.
Why doesn’t Baron Cohen turn his fury on the real perpetrators of mental health discrimination – his employer?
TheResearcher · 1 August 2026 at 07:00
In Cambridge, “Unreasonably Persistent Behaviour” (UPB) by junior members who report misconduct is not acceptable and “abusers” are expelled, but when UPB is plagiarism and mass deception by senior members, this is tolerated and normalised.
I would be very keen to talk to Baron Cohen but he must be busy now. 550K saw his tweet from yesterday already and comments do not look good:
https://x.com/sbaroncohen/status/2083151353514242459
EtonMess · 1 August 2026 at 09:54
Right.
Serial plagiarism is outside the scope of Unreasonably Persistent Behaviour.
Sounds logical. (/s)
TheResearcher · 1 August 2026 at 07:11
Arday & Cambridge got to the Independent, and the result is surreal. We got it wrong after all!
“The Cambridge plagiarism row proves Black academics are held to higher standards”
“Cambridge has since investigated the claims and found no wrongdoing”
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cambridge-plagiarism-jason-arday-black-academic-b3025197.html
Archived here: https://archive.is/jTLzH
And... Action! · 1 August 2026 at 09:59
The Netflix version of this saga is going to be amazing. I can already imagine the trailer for the show:
1. Cue chirpy, upbeat classical music (one from Prentice’s “Private Passions” BBC list). Camera up to American woman (Prentice) getting the job as new Cambridge Vice-Chancellor. Bright sunlight, smiles, getting the plane to London, taxi to Cambridge; smiles and laughter as she meets the key protagonists in the University Council and Pro-VCs, looking awestruck as she sees the Harry-Potter-esque libraries, colleges; close on shot of an august dining hall and a “wow” expression
2. Music turns dark (from same list). Brightness fades. Snapshots of police arrests, suicides, Cambridge hospital wards, flashes of paparazzi cameras, calling her name for a direct headshot
3. Final frame, a courtroom in Bury St Edmunds. Prentice looks up at the camera:
“How do I get out of here?”
Smash cut to black, name of series engraved in stark relief against black frame.
Appears in bold underneath: COMING TO NETFLIX, AUGUST 2027.
CastingDirector · 1 August 2026 at 10:29
CASTING NOW
Rebecca Front (The Thick of it) as Deborah Prentice
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) as Hilary Cremin
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as Simon Baron Cohen
Genius! · 1 August 2026 at 11:09
“Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as Simon Baron Cohen”
Hahahahaha
OMG. If Simon gave permission for his cousin to play him in this role it would actually redeem him completely in my eyes.
CastingUpdate · 1 August 2026 at 18:14
Rebecca Front would rock it as Prentice if she can get the accent right… but otherwise Julia Louis-Dreyfus seems an obvious backup choice?
Munir – perhaps Art Malik could capture the requisite Machiavellianism?
Rosamund Pike I think most people had in mind for a different character….
CastingDirector · 1 August 2026 at 18:54
Art Malik is a gimme
Rosamund Pike is Andi Hudson
Hugh Grant is James Helm
Jason Arday obviously plays himself
For Bhaskar Vira, we may need to go to Bollywood. Perhaps Anil Kapoor?
anonymous · 1 August 2026 at 22:10
I love the idea that mid-movie Council could break in to a Bollywood dance routine for absolutely no fucking reason whatsoever