A t.v. interview about the Jason Arday affair

August 23, 2026 • 9:56 am

I am supposed to be on the i24 English News today speaking briefly about Jason Arday. The invitation I got included this:

I’m reaching out from i24NEWS English Channel. We are an international TV channel broadcasting in English, French & Arabic to the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East & Africa.

The interview will be live this Sunday the 23rd of August, via Zoom, at 1:30pm CDT for around 5-6 minutes, hosted by Natasha Kirtchuk.

Topic: The latest developments surrounding the Jason Arday case, including the suspension of academic Nathan Cofnas after he raised plagiarism allegations against Arday, as well as the wider questions surrounding the allegations, Cambridge’s investigation, and academic accountability.

That’s a lot to cover in 5-6 minutes but I’ll do my best.  Apparently you can watch it live at 1:30 Chicago time from either of these links.

the i24 English Channel

or, preferably, the

the i24 YouTube Channel.

We’ll see how it goes.

21 thoughts on “A t.v. interview about the Jason Arday affair”

    1. “From my current vantage point, I view these outcomes as God closing off paths that were not mine to walk.”

      I disagree somewhat on this article…the above quote indicates that the author has traded one set of faith-based beliefs (sociology in its current form) for another.

      And unfortunately, this notion that God is somehow inserting himself into human affairs to micromanage things like academic careers a huge red flag for me. First, it is unfalsifiable…whatever happens apparently is consistent with God existing and managing things under this view. Secondly…how does it actually work in practice? Doesn’t it require God interfering directly with the thoughts and will of free beings like us? How does this interference not directly violate free will, which is a core tenant of Christianity?

      This is not a scientific mind at work.

      So, these sort of Hallmark-card, irrational platitudes just scream mediocre intellectual capacity, or at the very least a rather extreme example of compartmentalization (such as the case of Francis Collins). And since this person has now found a place in academia, it inadvertently supports the critics who claim that the standards, especially for people of color, are very low.

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      1. I agree that the religious stuff is nonsense, but I thought he gave an honest account of the role played by “diversity” in his recruitment and of how media-fuelled cancellation works.

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    2. Pretty good article on the Arday to-do, ignoring the flawed logic of the author’s interpretation of his own life’s trajectory that Jeff pointed out. Thanks for sharing. The leftists on Bluesky defending academic misconduct and the apparently politically motivated suspension of Cofnas have been quite aggravating.

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  3. Lucy Aharish, an Israeli Arab Muslim woman who Bari interviewed a couple of years ago on TFP works for i24. She was really impressive. Hope your moderator is of a similar cut.

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  5. Great opportunity to move the conversation from the trivially dumb issues (did he really run all those marathons?) to the important institutional failures at Liverpool John Moores University (and Warwick and Roehampton and Durham and Glasgow where he had teaching jobs) and at Cambridge.

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  6. Hey good interview! I appreciate the emphasis on understanding what happened not on speculating about motivations.

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  7. Wish they had given you a few more minutes to discuss the Arday affair. A couple of minutes is hardly sufficient.

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  8. Thanks for the heads up. Amazing that on the spur of the moment we can watch a live, international interview with a good friend through a simple click or two. I hate ai, but boy do I love 21st century technology in general!

    The interviewer seemed very open and fair…at least to me…but, of course, I was not in the hot seat.

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  9. I watched the interview.
    Jerry did a very good job (IMO) pointing out that the brouhaha is mostly about the motivations of Arday’s fabrications and (probable) suicide, and Cofnas’ motivations for singling out Arday for his investigation.

    And the fact that we don’t have any information about those motivations—not those of Arday, nor those of Cofnas. The brouhaha is based on assumptions, not facts. And Jerry made those points in a very moderate way, while mentioning the fact that Arday was indeed a plagiarist and fabulist. Most importantly, he said that Cofnas’ research area—the genetics of intelligence, is a topic worthy of investigation. In that respect, he is a better proponent of Cofnas’ research than is Cofnas himself.

    In short—well done, Jerry.

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    1. We do know Cofnas’s (claimed) motivation to investigate Arday’s plagiarism etc. as per my post at #13 below.

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  10. Did it seem like the interview ran a little short? But they were also running late by several minutes. I saw that PCC(E) was properly very objective about possible motivations of Arday and Cofnas. After all, how could one really know?
    She steered where the interview went, so it did not explore many other areas of import.

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  13. In his Substack post revealing Arday’s plagiarism, Cofnas explained how he came to investigate it, writing:

    I was recently contacted by a faculty member at Cambridge (whose name I will not reveal) who alleges that Arday is a plagiarist and fabulist. My source claims that many if not most professors at Cambridge have known about this for more than a year. However, Arday and/or Cambridge’s administration are using intimidation and legal threats to squelch the story.

    https://ncofnas.com/p/dei-fraud-and-cover-up-at-cambridge

    Reply

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