Saturday, 22 August 2026 6:07 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 22 August 2026 6:07 AM]
https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/08/22/774829/US-defends-%E2%80%98race-realist%E2%80%99-academic-who-accused-black-professor-of-plagiarism
Supporters leave flowers and photographs after taking part in a vigil for late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, following his death at age 41, London, the United Kingdom, August 17, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
Washington has come to the defense of American academic Nathan Cofnas, a self-described “race realist” who accused late Black Cambridge professor Jason Arday of plagiarism, after a Belgian university suspended him over his public statements.
US Ambassador to Belgium, William Bryan White, condemned Ghent University’s action against Cofnas and said Washington was reviewing its relationship with the institution.
“The United States Mission to Belgium condemns, in the strongest terms, Ghent University’s retaliation against an American scholar following his accurate whistleblower reporting on academic fraud,” White wrote in a post published on social media platform X on Friday.
White also dismissed concerns about Cofnas’ racist views, claiming that his controversial positions were protected by freedom of speech and were known to the university when he was hired.
Cofnas has for years promoted the view that differences in intelligence between racial groups are influenced by genetics.
In a 2024 blog post, he argued that Black people have lower average intelligence than white people and wrote that, under a meritocratic system, there would be “close to zero” Black professors at Harvard University.
Cofnas previously held a position at the University of Cambridge but was dismissed from Emmanuel College in 2024 following controversy over his views on race.
He later became a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University’s Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences, where the institution said his hiring had followed “proper procedures.”
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Cofnas publicly raised plagiarism allegations against Arday last month, triggering intense scrutiny of the late professor’s academic record and contributing to a controversy that ultimately preceded his resignation from Cambridge.
Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, denied the plagiarism allegations and resigned on August 5, writing that he had reached “the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.”
He was found dead at his home in south London on August 14 at the age of 41, with police treating the death as unexpected but not suspicious.
Ghent University subsequently launched a preliminary disciplinary investigation into Cofnas and suspended him as a “precautionary measure,” saying it opposed “discrimination, hatred and racism.”
The university also stressed that academic freedom “is not unlimited” and “goes hand in hand with responsibility,” saying it had taken the action after considering Cofnas’ recent public statements.
More than 30,000 people attended a vigil for Arday in London this week, where speakers denounced the treatment of the late professor and described the media campaign surrounding him as “vicious” and “bitter,” while Baron Woolley of Woodford called it a “public execution” and a “lynching.”