My thoughts on the death of Prof Jason Arday

Dr Norman Keane FIMMM, Chair of the Ethnic Minorities in Materials, Minerals & Mining (EMM3) Group shares his reflections.

I was alerted about the death of Prof. Jason Arday as the news broke on Friday, 14 August. My heart sank. What started as a racist attack on the professional integrity of an academic, and on Cambridge University itself, had escalated past his resignation to his death. I cannot comment on his academic achievements or whether Cambridge should have made him a professor at the stage of his career that it did, only to say that his qualifications and research record earned Jason Arday a professorship at Glasgow University. His backstory of not being verbal until he was 11 and not being able to read until he was 18 seemed to impress many, as the progress which he made from the age of 18 would seem to be incredible.

Once the mainstream media got hold of the allegations of plagiarism in his PhD thesis (which were dismissed) and concerns about the quality of some of his publications, they began to probe all aspects of his life, especially his claims about achievements outside of academia. These often revolved around feats of athletic performance, such as running 30 marathons in 35 days, that would have come to wider recognition if true. Unfortunately for Jason, at this time of the year, with politics on holiday, journalists will find something else to latch onto, and it was him. Uniquely, all newspapers and many news magazines relentlessly published article after article about someone who appeared to be a fabulist and challenged why Cambridge could have hired him.

Like many, I was new to the debate about Prof. Arday and have been trying to make sense of how we got to his death. I have tried to make a distinction between 'Prof Arday', the academic, and 'Jason', the apparent fabulist. 'Prof Arday' seemed to be fulfilling his role at Cambridge without issue, but had been attacked, for more than 3 years, as being unworthy of the role of Professor by someone who doesn’t believe that Black people have the capacity for serious scholarship. However, the fantastic claims made by “Jason” only provided more fuel for the press, in a frenzy, to challenge every aspect of his life.

As a scientist, I love models. Many years ago, I was taught Blanchard’s ABCD model of trust in organisations ⁽¹⁾. The model has 4 components:

• Able (competence) – Have the expertise/skills/knowledge to do the job, achieve goals consistently, and have problem-solving, decision-making, and people management skills.
• Believable (Act with integrity) – Act honestly, uphold honourable values, and treat people fairly.
• Connected (Care about others) – Enjoy working with others, respect differences, open communication, give praise and recognition.
• Dependable (Reliability) – Follow through on commitments, meet deadlines, has systems to get things done.

Listening to the speakers at Prof Arday’s vigil in London on Monday, I heard a picture of someone who was Able, Believable, Connected and Dependable. However, I do not believe Jason’s non-academic claims were credible. In reality, personal and professional lives cannot be entirely separated; they are two sides of the same coin. This does not excuse the intensely biased scrutiny he faced, which reached unprecedented levels even after he resigned from Cambridge. No one deserved to endure the open racism and pressure he was subjected to, or to be pushed beyond what he could cope with.

What should we learn from this sad episode?

For ethnic minority professionals, use the ABCD model as a guide to demonstrate that you can engender trust from bosses and subordinates. They should have no reason to question your competence.

For organisations, treat your ethnic minority staff exactly as you would treat anyone else. In my opinion, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging policies are still desirable in organisations to support the drive to give anyone qualified a chance at a role and break down invisible barriers. Unconscious bias is real and requires constant vigilance by us all to recognise it in ourselves and to act differently.

 It should have been incidental that Prof. Arday was black and young when appointed by Cambridge. They didn’t need to congratulate themselves on his appointment so publicly.  If someone raised this as a concern, they should have simply said that we have appointed an outstanding candidate with a bright future ahead of him and left it at that.

1. “Trust Works: Four keys to building lasting relationships”, 2013, Ken Blanchard, Cynthia Olmstead, and Martin Lawrence, published by Harper Collins

The IOM3 Ethnic Minorities in Materials, Minerals, & Mining (EMM3) group exists to support professionals in our sectors from under-represented ethnicities and to provide a forum for them and their allies to work towards greater inclusion in materials, minerals and mining. If you want to get involved or to know more about the activities of EMM3, contact [email protected]