Nathan Cofnas, the postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University who spearheaded plagiarism allegations against the late professor Jason Arday, has been suspended from his post. Cofnas announced the development in a post on X, stating that he expects to be fired. “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me. The decision was made by rector Petra De Sutter, a former Green Party leader,” he wrote.
Suspension and Background
Cofnas, who describes himself as a “race realist,” works as a researcher in the university’s department of philosophy and moral sciences, according to the BBC. He previously worked at a Cambridge college but was dismissed in 2024 for espousing views that were considered racist. Cofnas had claimed that under true meritocracy, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.” He joined Ghent University earlier this year and has since faced criticism for his stance on hereditarianism.
The suspension comes after Cofnas published an analysis of Arday’s academic work in July, alleging that parts of the professor’s 2015 PhD thesis closely matched earlier academic material. In the analysis published on Substack, Cofnas claimed he ran Arday’s work through plagiarism detection software and found “many passages are lifted from the works of other scholars with minimal editing.” He said the thesis was similar or identical to work by other scholars, including a 2009 dissertation by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers.
Arday's Response and Death
Arday denied the allegations, acknowledging citation errors but denying intentional academic misconduct. He attributed problems with his doctoral work to inadequate supervision and his autism. However, the allegation, along with many other questions about Arday’s work and achievements, subjected the ex-Cambridge professor to weeks of intense media scrutiny. He was also a victim of what many consider to be racially motivated attacks.
Premium Times reported the death of the professor last week. He was found dead in London a few days after his resignation over these allegations. In a statement announcing his resignation, Arday said: “his decision to step down should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship.”
University's Response
After Arday’s death, Ghent University said it had begun investigating Cofnas’s statements about the late professor’s work. The university said it took “recent public statements made by Mr Cofnas very seriously” and had taken “appropriate action.” “We attach great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited. It goes hand in hand with responsibility and may be restricted in order to protect the rights of others,” the university said.
