Green Party leader Zack Polanski has defended a black university professor who resigned amid a plagiarism row, saying he faced a “trial by media”.
Professor Jason Arday quit his high-profile role at the University of Cambridge on Wednesday after it launched an investigation into his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”, following a series of media reports alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis and other research.
Further questions were asked in the press about the truth of other claims made by Prof Arday, including saying that he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.
Speaking as Prof Arday’s resignation was announced, Mr Polanski argued that people of colour can “sometimes be held by higher standards” in society.
He sought to defend his decision to sign a letter – also signed by a number of other prominent left-wing figures – which criticised the “sustained and malicious attacks” on the academic’s integrity.
Asked about the decision to put his name to it, Mr Polanski told LBC: “I think the whole affair sounds pretty sad.
“Again, I think it would be good, actually, if the (university) investigation still was carried out, because I think it would be good to know the truth.
“And ultimately, I think these things should be about fair process and transparency rather than trial by media.”
The Green Party leader added: “(The university) had already done, I think, two investigations and found there was no problem here or that the allegations were unfounded, and so (the letter) was about essentially saying that people of colour, particularly in society, can sometimes be held by higher standards.”
In his open resignation letter addressed to colleagues published on the Good Law Project’s website, the professor of sociology of education, who became Cambridge’s youngest black professor in 2023, said that the “only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away”.
He said: “This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge.
“Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me.
“It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.”
Earlier on Wednesday evening, the University of Cambridge announced it had launched an investigation.
In a statement, it said: “Separately, there remains a number of ongoing complaints regarding academic misconduct, which are being handled in line with our misconduct in research policy.”
Meanwhile, Jesus College said in a statement that it was launching its own process in relation to the allegation.
Prof Arday’s memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things, is due to be published by Simon & Schuster later this month.
