The Fall of a DEI Darling Reveals Why Universities Won’t Reform Themselves
5th August 2026
An almost unbelievable scandal involving a professor of black studies at Cambridge University demonstrates how institutional DEI can only be defeated from without, not within.
First, the story, which has received far too little attention from American media.
Cambridge University professor Jason Arday has been one of the darlings of academia, particularly in the U.K. He’s been wildly and effusively celebrated as an incredible, inspirational story of how a young, black man with autism who couldn’t read until he was 18 became an esteemed professor.
“He has helped the Government with its antiracism strategies; advised on the national curriculum; guest-edited the Today program,” Kathleen Stock wrote for UnHeard. “ … His writing has been enthusiastically praised by [journalist] James O’Brien and [member of parliament] David Lammy. His fans now await his memoir, to be published in a month’s time.”
Arday’s life story and work have been promoted as a necessary antidote to the alleged systemic racism of Western societies.
He was a poster child of successful DEI, much like how Ibram X. Kendi was billed as the wise swami of anti-racism before he came crashing down to earth.