Who is Nathan Cofnas? Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended by university

Who is Nathan Cofnas? Academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism suspended by universityNathan Cofnas, the academic who made plagiarism allegations against the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, has been suspended from his position at Ghent University in Belgium. Cofnas is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences at Ghent University. He is a self-described “race realist” who has earlier argued that genes play a “non-trivial role” in intelligence differences between racial groups. He was sacked from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 2024 when he wrote, in a meritocracy, “Blacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.” He accused Arday, who became Cambridge’s youngest Black professor in 2023, of plagiarism, claiming detection software found “many passages are lifted with minimal editing.” His allegations triggered weeks of media scrutiny and ultimately led to Arday’s resignation earlier this month. Later, on August 14, the 41-year-old professor was found dead in Battersea, south London. On Thursday, August 20, Cofnas posted on X (formerly known as Twitter): “I am under investigation for discriminating against Arday” and “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me.” The university also confirmed that they have launched a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” and suspended Cofnas as a “precautionary measure.”