For observers of academia, the Jason Arday affair has been thoroughly depressing. The exposure of absent standards inside Cambridge, the relentless coverage that followed, and then Arday's death, have made for a sequence of events that has been emotionally draining. It has been compounded by the backlash against the British press and against the scholar who set the chain in motion: the American philosopher and Quillette contributor Nathan Cofnas.
What began as an exposé of the collapse in standards produced by DEI—the ideology of diversity, equity and inclusion—has become a case of whistleblower retaliation. Cofnas has received death threats. He has been targeted personally by protesters in London, among them a sitting MP. And this week he was suspended from his post at Ghent University, pending a disciplinary investigation, after blowing the whistle on Arday and on Cambridge. I can confirm that he has been fearful for his safety.
In the days since Arday's death, there has been no public apology and no acknowledgement from Cambridge's leadership of the part it played in elevating an unqualified man into a position of precariousness and public scrutiny. The only scholar to face professional consequences is the one who exposed the truth. I am not the only one to notice the irony: the profession whose raison d'être is the pursuit of truth has punished a man for pursuing it. What is at stake in all of this is the legitimacy of academia itself.
Now the affair has escalated again, into something close to a diplomatic incident. Cofnas is an American scholar, and on 21 August the US Ambassador to Belgium, Bill White, published the following statement---click on the image
At Quillette we welcome the Ambassador's intervention, and are heartened by the muscular defence of academic freedom and integrity it expresses. In a tragic and demoralising affair, his words offer some hope.
We'll have more on this saga in the coming days. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this week's selection of essays.NOT BEHIND PAYWALL BUT YOU MUST SIGN UP Claire's Weekly Letter: Punished for Truth-Seeking
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