Teaching union boss distances himself from letter of support for Jason Arday
The National Education Union is calling for a "fair and transparent investigation” into the former Cambridge professor after new allegations came to light.
The UK's largest teaching union has distanced itself from an open letter supporting former Cambridge Professor Jason Arday amid a high-profile plagiarism row.
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Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), initially signed the letter two weeks ago on the Good Law Project website.
It had claimed there had been a “smear campaign” against the academic, insisting the allegations of plagiarism he is facing are “entirely false”.
The NEU has now withdrawn its backing for Mr Arday and says a new letter should be issued “appealing for a fair and transparent investigation”.
It comes after three academics asked their names to be removed from the letter after new allegations about Mr Arday came to light.
They are Sonita Alleyne, the first woman to head up Jesus College, where Mr Arday was employed, Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen, a Cambridge professor of developmental psychopathology , and Ricardo Sabates Aysa, an education and international development expert.
But Mr Kebede believes that Mr Arday should still have a “right to due process”, the NEU said.
Read more: Jason Arday ‘accused student of white privilege’ after she questioned her mark
Read more: Jason Arday cancels book tour events after plagiarism claims
The union leader, who has spoken out about facing racism as a child, is currently still on the list of signatories.
AnNEU spokesman said: “As a trade unionist, Daniel Kebede fundamentally believes that where questions are raised about an individual's professional conduct, that person has a right to due process.
“Daniel Kebede signed the statement on the information provided to him at the time.
“In light of the new information that has since emerged, he would have hoped that the authors of the statement would have presented a different statement. One appealing for a fair and transparent investigation.”
Cambridge University launched an investigation last week into Mr Arday after fellow academics accused him of copying work and inventing some previous academic posts.
He resigned from Cambridge last Wednesday following a series of media reports alleging he plagiarised his PhD thesis, completed at Liverpool John Moores University, and other research.
Further questions were asked in the press about the truth of other claims he made, including saying he ran 600 miles in six days and that he had raised £5.5 million for charity.
In the latest damning allegation, a student has said they were accused by Mr Arday of 'white privilege' after she questioned her grades.
Mr Arday is alleged to have implied the student was racist after she complained about receiving a lower than expected grade on an essay.
The former professor has cancelled events promoting his forthcoming memoir.
His book, Great And Unfortunate Things, is to be published in the UK on August 27.
At the start of the week, publishers Simon & Schuster said that Prof Arday’s memoir was to go ahead as planned.
He was also booked for a “fireside chat” at the Royal Geographical Society.On their webpage it says the conversation has been cancelled “on the request of the speaker”.
A spokesperson at the University of Roehampton said that Arday was employed as a senior lecturer in the School of Education from September 2017 until February 2019.
The university said it has reviewed its student casework records and identified no complaints relating to Arday during his period of employment.
Mr Arday said in his resignation letter: "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.”