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Vigil After Death
Thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square on Monday to mourn Jason Arday, a former University of Cambridge sociology professor found dead on Friday after weeks of intense scrutiny over accusations of plagiarism and other claims.
“British Prime Minister Andy Burnham described his death as "a tragedy on so many levels."”
Reuters said Arday resigned on August 5 after a former researcher accused him of plagiarism in his PhD thesis, and it quoted British Prime Minister Andy Burnham describing his death as "a tragedy on so many levels."
The BBC reported that more than 200 people attended an emotional vigil in Cambridge on Sunday, where Arday, 41, had resigned as a professor of sociology of education after allegations of plagiarism and questions about some of his achievements.
At the London vigil, Reuters said people carried flowers and placards including "Rest In Power Professor Jason Arday" as they gathered in Trafalgar Square, a historic centre for protest in the British capital.
Racist Feeding Frenzy
Cambridge Chancellor Chris Smith, Lord Smith of Finsbury, condemned what he called a "racist feeding frenzy" after Arday’s death, and he told the BBC it was possible to hold two principles at once.
In the same BBC account, Smith said critics of plagiarism should be "rigorously investigated" while also adding that it was right to "refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic."
At the London vigil, Labour MP Diane Abbott told the crowd that she believed Arday was driven to his death by a "vicious media campaign".
Sky News reported that Lord Simon Woolley, principal of Homerton College at Cambridge, said Arday told him just days before his death: "They hounded me to death and I cannot see a way out."
Petition and Pressure
A petition calling for a public inquiry into the media’s conduct, started by the Good Law Project, had gathered more than 90,000 signatures late Monday, and it argued Arday’s death was "the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment."
“"the direct, foreseeable and foreseen result of press harassment"”
Sky News said the number of those who signed the petition had passed 98,000, while Downing Street declined to say whether the prime minister was considering an inquiry "at this stage."
Reuters reported that Cambridge University pledged on Wednesday to investigate the circumstances of his appointment and his academic work, after Arday became a focal point for polarising commentary about race, academic rigour, police interference and media intrusion.
In the ABC report, mourners at a London vigil accused British tabloid media of "hunting" Jason Arday, and it said more than 90,000 people had signed a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the media's handling of the academic.
