Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) has issued a statement backing calls for a full inquiry into the death of Professor Jason Arday, the first black professor at Cambridge University, who was found dead last week. The organisation described the scrutiny he faced as a 'brutal and unrelenting storm' of press and media coverage.
BRIG said that Arday, who was autistic, had resigned his academic role amid a university investigation and media coverage of claims of plagiarism and inaccuracies about his life story and achievements. More than 240 articles were published about him over 22 days, with 75% of them appearing after he had resigned his position at Cambridge, according to the statement.
Vigils and fundraiser
Arday's death was marked at a weekend vigil in London, coordinated by Stand Up to Racism, which drew more than 30,000 people. A smaller gathering took place in Birmingham's Chamberlain Square.
A fundraiser coordinated on behalf of the family by Professor Patrick Vernon, pro chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton and a former health leader in Birmingham, has already topped £200,000.
BRIG's full statement
BRIG stated: 'Once again we find ourselves mourning the death of a Black man in the most horrendous circumstances. Professor Jason Arday was found unresponsive in his home on Friday 14th August.'
The organisation added: 'He had been at the centre of a brutal and unrelenting press and media storm surrounding accusations of plagiarism and falsehoods about some of his achievements.'
Family and friends raised concerns about Arday's wellbeing in the days before his death. 'They reported that Jason felt overwhelmed by the relentless scrutiny he was experiencing and could no longer see a way forward,' BRIG said.
BRIG said it recognised 'the pattern of racism at play in what happened to Jason.' The statement described how a Black person taking up a significant role in an elite institution becomes invested with symbolic significance, with their appointment celebrated as evidence of barriers falling, while inclusion is often organised through exceptionalism.
'As Black people, many of us grow up with the message that we have to be exceptional simply to be treated as equal. Work harder. Be better qualified. Make fewer mistakes. Constantly prove that we deserve to be in the room,' the statement read.
Questions about duty of care
Arday was already a professor before arriving at Cambridge, having been Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow. Liverpool John Moores University had investigated an earlier complaint concerning plagiarism in his doctoral work, which was not upheld.
BRIG questioned: 'Where was the duty of care? Where was the safeguarding of someone known to be vulnerable? At what point does legitimate scrutiny cross a line and become something altogether different?'
The organisation called for 'a thorough and independent examination of the circumstances surrounding Jason's death and of the treatment he experienced in the period leading up to it.'
BRIG said it could not ignore 'the racism and anti-Blackness that surrounded what happened,' adding that Arday's alleged failings were 'folded into a much bigger, national assault on equity, diversity and inclusion, with Jason turned into a case study for people who had already decided what his career proved.'
The statement concluded: 'We cannot do justice to those questions here. We will return to these in a fuller reflection in our BRIG newsletter. We will create space for the difficult conversations that need to take place. For now, we mourn Jason. A family has lost someone they love. Two young children have lost their father. And a 41-year-old Black man, who overcame extraordinary barriers, built an academic career and still had so much life ahead of him, is gone.'
