‘I am a scapegoat’: Nathan Cofnas says he got ‘death threats’ after exposing Jason Arday plagiarism

Nathan Cofnas (L), who exposed Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s plagiarism, suspended by Ghent University.

A day after Ghent University suspended him, US academic Nathan Cofnas has said he was made a “scapegoat” after he brought plagiarism allegations against late former Cambridge professor Jason Arday into the spotlight.Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Cofnas said he had been “flooded with death threats” and accused powerful institutions of scapegoating him following the controversy surrounding Arday.The development comes as Cofnas faces fallout over his allegations against Arday, whose academic record came under intense scrutiny after the claims were published in July.

‘I’m an easy scapegoat’

“I’m an easy scapegoat because I hold views about race that are controversial and easily misunderstood,” Cofnas wrote in The Wall Street Journal, while defending his academic views and his decision to publish the allegations against Arday.Cofnas said he had “set off a series of events that led to a death” but dismissed the idea that the lesson from the episode should be that academics cannot expose alleged wrongdoing involving powerful public figures.“The lesson can’t be that it’s unacceptable to point out wrongdoing that implicates powerful public figures,” he wrote, adding that he had exposed what he described as “fraud and institutional corruption” at Cambridge.

How the Arday controversy began

Cofnas said he broke the Jason Arday story on Substack on July 21, alleging extensive plagiarism and fabrication in Arday’s academic and personal history.Arday, who was appointed Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, later faced intense scrutiny over his academic record.Cofnas’s post was picked up by British media outlets, with 249 UK newspaper articles about Arday appearing over a 22-day period. Cambridge initially dismissed criticism of Arday as a “vile campaign” but announced an investigation on August 5.Arday resigned from his professorship hours later. He was found dead on August 14 in what has been described as an apparent suicide.Cofnas wrote that Arday was “an adult who was morally responsible for his actions”, but argued that his punishment went beyond what was justified and that Cambridge had failed to deal with concerns about him earlier.

‘He was used as a pawn’

Cofnas blamed Cambridge for allegedly knowing about concerns surrounding Arday’s work for years without taking decisive action. He claimed the university had been alerted to plagiarism allegations as early as 2023 and was also aware of concerns over Arday’s claims about his past.According to Cofnas, Cambridge could have moved Arday to a non-research position instead of allowing the situation to escalate.“When Arday became an embarrassment, they signaled that they would no longer protect him,” Cofnas wrote, arguing that the former professor was “used as a pawn from beginning to end”.He also questioned the scale of media coverage after Arday resigned, saying two-thirds of the 249 articles appeared after his resignation.

‘I don’t regret writing the exposé

Cofnas said he had been repeatedly accused of targeting Arday because of his views on race and claimed he had faced death threats and public criticism.He said he was conflicted when asked whether he regretted publishing the Arday expose.“If I say I have no regrets, it sounds like I don’t appreciate the horrific nature of the outcome,” he wrote. “If I do regret it, it sounds like I’m accepting moral responsibility for what happened.”Cofnas ultimately argued that he should not be blamed for exposing allegations against Arday, saying the controversy instead showed how institutions could shift responsibility onto a whistleblower.He described his suspension from Ghent as another example of what he called “the scapegoating of a whistleblower by powerful institutions”.Cofnas had earlier faced controversy at Cambridge over his views on race and intelligence.In 2024, his remarks that talent was not equally distributed across groups triggered protests and complaints, leading Emmanuel College to terminate his position.He sued the college over alleged belief discrimination but lost, while Cambridge later dismissed the student complaints, saying his published views did not breach its rules.