Prof Jason Arday has resigned with immediate effect from the University of Cambridge and Jesus College after the university opened a new investigation into his qualifications and career. He said the accusations, speculation and public commentary had taken a profound toll on him and on those he loved. He added that stepping away was the only way to bring this chapter to an end.
In a statement published on the Good Law Project website on Wednesday night, Arday said: "It is with profound sadness that I write to resign, with immediate effect, from my position at the University of Cambridge and Jesus College." He also said: "I had concluded that the only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away".
The University of Cambridge inquiry
The University of Cambridge said on Wednesday evening that it had begun an investigation after new information emerged about Prof Arday's academic qualifications and honorary appointments. The university also said there were still a number of ongoing complaints about academic misconduct, which were being handled under its misconduct in research policy.
That moves the dispute into a formal process that sits alongside the resignation itself. Arday had first faced allegations late last year that he plagiarised parts of his PhD thesis and other academic research, and he has denied those claims.
Arday's earlier findings
Arday said there had been multiple thorough investigations across several institutions and that an academic misconduct panel had concluded there was no plagiarism or academic misconduct. Liverpool John Moores University did not uphold the plagiarism charges against him and said the issues were probably caused by honest and reasonable error.
He also said: "When I accepted the extraordinary honour of becoming professor of sociology at Cambridge, it was, without question, the greatest professional privilege of my life." His resignation ends his role at two Cambridge institutions immediately, even as the university's separate inquiry continues.
Great and Unfortunate Things
Simon & Schuster had been preparing to publish his memoir Great and Unfortunate Things later this month. With Arday stepping away from Cambridge and Jesus College, the book's publication and publicity plans now sit alongside the wider scrutiny around his qualifications, appointments and prior misconduct complaints.
The remaining question is the one Cambridge has not answered in public: what specific new information led it to reopen the issue around his qualifications and honorary appointments. Until that is set out, the memoir and the inquiry will keep moving on separate tracks.
