The Black Professor

[Justin Passing]

I think the Lawrence ranting has a lot that's valid. Arday was used egregiously. Those at the universities should have known and behaved better, yes.

Arday was a complex individual but he would have known he was a fake, lining himself up to derision and ridicule. Weaponising the race card for any criticism of his behaviour whatsoever isn't forgivable on any "mental illness" grounds. As someone said above, "the worst sort of racism". He knew what he was doing and he knew he was emotionally frail, he was bright enough to work that out.
An academic who denies copying what was obviously copied, especially to the extent he did, has to go. He should have simply gone a while ago, simply disappearing so people forgot about him.
I'm not surprised he did away with himself, he boxed himself into a corner.
Maybe I'm cynical but I wouldn't be surprised if he left a note saying "Look what you made me do". But I wouldn't have it. He was responsible for letting himself get where he was. No sympathy for him here, only to his folks, for what he did to them.

 

[Odds]

the problem with any form of research is there is a risk of unintentional plagiarism. You read 100s of articles, books etc. have discussions, and formulate opinions, and then write your own work up, and some of what you say is obviously influenced by what you have studied - that is the whole point really. With AI tools now, it is probably easier to determine when somebody's work might have been influenced by anothers, and without reference.

If the same level of scrutiny was applied to every research paper ever written, similar patterns would probably emerge.

The Telegraph reported that analysis had found more than 100 passages in his PhD were similar to another thesis by Paula Zwozdiak-Myers, a student at Brunel University of London, published six years previously. An earlier investigation by Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded his PhD in 2015, did not uphold the charges of plagiarism but said they were probably caused by “honest and reasonable error”.

Arday told the Guardian last week: “There have been multiple thorough investigations across several institutions as a result of the allegations, and immense scrutiny, including with an academic misconduct panel who concluded that there was no plagiarism or academic misconduct.”

I wonder, then, how a sustained campaign over three years was justified after the initial conclusion by JMU. It reminds me of the case made against Ed Sheeran over one of his songs and his defence was so much music is listened to these days it's almost impossible to not hear elements of other tunes in some of them.

 

[Elsa TLC]

He seems a very positive upbeat guy

He was that. I also think from listening to him that he was a really caring kind person.

who fell somewhat short of Cambridge academic standards.

He did not fall short. He conned them. That said he was a very clever articulated man.

Plagiarism software is routinely used in academic/undergraduate work but the PHD he is alleged to have "borrowed" from was an obscure work which might not have been digitised. AI will eventully catch up.

Ai or not, he mixed it with some very intelligent left sided people that he actually felt equal with and they became his friends.

He wasn't meant to happen this way. The poor fella had mental health issues and the likes of JºB where more concerned that they had been mugged off rather than thinking fir his welfare.

 

[Elsa TLC]

I can't make my mind on this story..

On the one hand the plagiarism in his PhD thesis and lies on his CV are widely reported and obvious on the other was he targeted originally by a journalist because hie was black?

If your going to use your colour as a tool to get you further in life or raise you above laws and through doors, then that journalist has ever right to come after you.
Its not because he was black its because he used black.

Originally the Journalist who started contacting him about inconsistencies was reported to the police for harassment with a racial hate motive,

but as Cambridge's youngest black professor, he perhaps should have anticipated the scrutiny.

This young man had a past. School friends and neighbours would have made sounds on social media first. They would more than likely have also been black.

I wonder how many PhD have significant plagiarism?

Yes... from all walks.

[URL

What has Trump got to do with this?

 

[Elsa TLC]

The most recent incident seems highly likely to be targeted because of his race. And in this case they found lies upon lies.

If you use race to get ahead in life, you will always have someone who opposes that advantage.

I would oppose thst a girl would get a job in front of my daughters on that bases of her colour.

 

[Elsa TLC]

The way things are going, we'll need that Austrian painter back again.

Rolf Harris?

Australians and Austrians conning us all

Could they really paint?

 

[SPLINE]

Some online commenters are saying that giving the likes of this man a degree devalues all the degrees given by Cambridge University. This is true, because it gives the cheat an equal chance in the job market as someone who did the necessary study; self-sacrifice and hard work.

In the same way, the government devalues the currency every day when it issues billions of pounds to people who do not work, whilst myself and others have to work a large part of our waking hours to get some of that currency.

 

[Odds]

"'some' online commentators"