LONDON—A few months ago, Nathan Cofnas was at a low ebb.
Harris says he later found out Arday had reported him to the police. Arday also reported the journalist to police, alleging harassment. Eventually, the journals where the work was published issued corrections, and Cambridge stood by Arday, telling Harris in an email that they met with Arday, who “spoke movingly about his ongoing experiences of direct and indirect racism.
Two years later, a reporter at the Times Higher Education—a respected specialized media that focuses on the university sector—investigated Arday and put together a 97-page dossier of evidence of his plagiarism.
But the reporter said the story was spiked after the publication was threatened with legal action by Arday’s lawyers. The journalist said police asked him not to contact Arday again to protect his mental health.
Cambridge said it provided Arday with mental health support, and has launched an investigation into its hiring practices. He lost. The U.S. has for years had raging debates over race and merit, with the Supreme Court ending affirmative action based on race in college admissions in 2023 and the Trump administration attempting to eliminate DEI programs and policies. Helped by £85,000 in donations, Cofnas sued Cambridge’s Emmanuel College alleging discrimination.
Increasingly, this debate has spread to the U.K., where traditionally class, not race, has proved the main barrier to social mobility. Cofnas is appealing the decision.
Cofnas, speaking from Belgium in one of his first interviews since Arday’s death, said he doesn’t regret publishing his Substack post. But he also said Arday was unfairly hounded by the press and let down by Cambridge University, which overpromoted him then abandoned him when under scrutiny. ” it also concluded that the way Cofnas had expressed it didn’t “abide with the college’s culture of respect While the Cambridge County Court found that hereditarianism is a “protected philosophical belief.
