Exclusive: Cambridge colleagues argued a Google search would have prevented Nathan Cofnas hiring

Exclusive: Cambridge colleagues argued a Google search would have prevented Nathan Cofnas hiring Submitted by Fleur Hargreaves on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 11:13 Cofnas, a self-described race realist, accused Jason Arday of plagiarism last month. His colleagues held meeting about his controversial views in February 2024 Nathan Cofnas has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over his controversial views on race and intelligence (Screengrab/X) Off Academics at the University of Cambridge privately argued in 2024 that Nathan Cofnas, who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism last month, should not have been hired, Middle East Eye has learnt. Cofnas, a self-described race realist, has been in the headlines after sociologist Arday died earlier this month. His death followed a media campaign accusing him of being a serial plagiarist and fabulist. Cofnas has since been placed under investigation by his employer, Ghent University in Belgium, over public comments he has made. But he has been supported by the US government and tech billionaire Elon Musk, and promoted by right-wing media outlets and podcasts. Now scrutiny is growing into Cofnas's academic record, particularly at Cambridge, which was also Arday's university. Cofnas was dismissed by Cambridge's Emmanuel College in April 2024 after a blog post he wrote in February that year claiming race was linked to academic ability. Cofnas said black people would "disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment" under a true meritocracy, and argued that there "must be some barriers set up between races in order for each one to express its own unique genius". On 23 February a private meeting was held responding to student outrage over the blog post. It was attended by Bhaskar Vira, the pro vice chancellor for education, as well as members of the Cambridge philosophy faculty - which Cofnas was part of - and around 20 philosophy students. Jason Arday's marathon challenge and other claims found to be true after his death Read More » During the meeting, according to minutes seen by MEE, the pro vice chancellor said that many among the university's senior management were "outraged" by the situation. Vira explained that while Cofnas was a fellow of Emmanuel College, one of Cambridge's constituent colleges, the university itself was now considering how it could respond to the blog post. Vira also said that in his personal view, Cofnas had crossed the line regarding concerns over "freedom of speech", but that it would be "foolhardy for us not to seek legal advice" on the legal issues surrounding free speech. Angela Breitenbach, then the chair of the philosophy faculty, said that "if one could’ve Googled, one would’ve found out more" about Cofnas's views before he was hired. She admitted the hiring process was "not satisfactory ultimately". Cofnas was appointed in 2022 as a Leverhulme Trust early career fellow. Breitenbach said the hiring process had involved one or two people who did not necessarily read everything on an applicant's CV, but that the process had since been changed so applications would be available to the whole faculty. Sophie Dandelet, an associate professor, suggested Cofnas's views on race could negatively affect his ability to teach students. MEE has contacted the University of Cambridge, Dandelet and Brietenbach for comment. Cofnas dismissed by Cambridge college In March 2024 a petition by Cambridge students and academics calling for Cofnas's dismissal gathered more than 1,200 signatures. After Cofnas was dismissed by Emmanuel College that same month, he sued the institution for belief discrimination. But the college won the lawsuit on the grounds that Cofnas's blog post had caused it reputational damage. However, Cambridge dismissed student complaints against Cofnas in late 2025 after an investigation. The university had adopted free speech rules in 2024 which allowed "controversial or unpopular opinions within the law". Ghent University, which currently employs Cofnas as a postdoctoral researcher, suspended him last week pending a disciplinary investigation into "recent public statements" that he made. This followed the death of sociologist Jason Arday, who resigned from Cambridge after it announced an investigation into his academic record earlier this month following a storm of press coverage. US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White condemned Cofnas's suspension and said the Trump administration would review its relationship with the university. President Donald Trump has often criticised Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) legislation, a political framing that has increasingly been imported to the UK - so much so that it is widely referred to by its American term, DEI, rather than the British equivalent, EDI. Cofnas announced on Thursday that he was being allowed to stay at the university to work on his research and thanked the US ambassador for his help, although the university said his disciplinary inquiry remains ongoing. Criticism of Cofnas's work The Guardian reported this week that professors at Ghent University earlier this year accused Cofnas of having "very limited expertise" for his academic role. Ghent's philosophy department sent an official statement to the university's rector on 28 May questioning his qualifications and "limited expertise". The Guardian quoted a leading academic in the philosophy of science, who described Cofnas’s work as “abysmal” and “shoddy”, and accused him of presenting “speculative racial theories as science without providing even a shred of evidence”. “We find it very improbable that Nathan Cofnas was the best out of 14 candidates,” the philosophy department's statement said, alleging that there had been a lack of transparency around his selection, which a “large majority” suspected had been “an ideological choice … decided in advance”. In response Cofnas said: "My academic qualifications are a matter of public record." Was Jason Arday really a serial plagiarist? No, the evidence shows Read More » He added: "The silliest accusation is that I am 'uninterested in the academic exchange of ideas'. The people who said this are trying to get me fired or even thrown in jail for expressing my ideas." In 2023 Cofnas posted on X: "There are obviously personality differences between Jews and non-Jews… On average, Jews are better than gentiles at capitalising on their [intelligence]". Cofnas accused Jason Arday of plagiarism in a Substack post last month, basing his allegations on an AI detection software. Cofnas described Arday as "retarded", "mentally disabled" and "just another DEI hire" in public comments. Cofnas’s allegations were picked up by The Telegraph, which published the story on 24 July under the headline “Cambridge diversity poster boy in plagiarism row”, and subsequently published 42 articles about Arday before his death. 'The hegemonic hounding of Professor Arday' An analysis by media watchdog NewsCord has found that 229 articles were published on Arday by numerous media outlets in just 22 days. Of these, 188 appeared in the nine days before his death, averaging almost 21 articles a day, after Arday resigned from his role at Cambridge, saying he had reached "the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure". Although newspapers claimed their reporting was “in the public interest”, NewsCord founder Nima Akram pointed out that only 166 articles were published about Peter Mandelson in the two weeks after the Epstein files were released - many merely mentioning him - despite accusations that Mandelson leaked sensitive government information to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “The hegemonic hounding of Professor Arday by UK media as a collective can only be described as a shameful witch-hunt,” Akram told MEE. More than 218,000 complaints have been made to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) through NewsCord’s campaign website - well over doubling the previous record set by its complaints tool for the media campaign against Misan Harriman , and almost 10 times the number lodged against Jeremy Clarkson’s 2022 Sun column about the Duchess of Sussex, which held the record before that. 'Elements of the press boast that they are watchdogs, but they are also attack dogs' - Des Freedman, professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths Numerous opinion columns and online posts claimed Arday had a largely fabricated backstory. He was widely accused of being a serial plagiarist and fabulist. But last week a Middle East Eye analysis found that key claims Arday made, which had become central talking points in attacks on him, appeared to be true. Another MEE analysis this week found that the characterisation of Arday as a serial and unrepentant plagiarist does not stand up to scrutiny. Instead, an examination of his work and the controversies surrounding it revealed a more complex picture. “Elements of the press boast that they are watchdogs, but they are also attack dogs,” Des Freedman, professor of media and communications at Goldsmiths University, told MEE, adding that “instead of punching up ... they punch down,” going after vulnerable people under the guise of acting in the “public interest”. “It is a fake public interest because it is so utterly disproportionate to what they need to know about in terms of interrogating, of asking questions of power,” Freedman said. He argued the frenzy was the product of a “coordinated, international right-wing movement”, using Arday as a scapegoat to promote culture war issues and anti-DEI policies. Cofnas's network of supporters and allies Byline Times reported last week that Cofnas's allegations against Arday were boosted by a network linked to Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of US spy firm Palantir . After Emmanuel College Cambridge had sacked Cofnas in 2024, the Free Speech Union (FSU), a pro-free speech advocacy group, launched a fundraiser for Cofnas, portraying him as a victim of an attack on academic freedom. A series of investigations by Byline Times linked the FSU to a wider network of academics supported by Thiel’s chief of staff. James Orr, an academic in Cambridge's divinity faculty and an adviser to FSU, hosted a series of talks by Thiel at Cambridge in January, known as the “Antichrist” Lectures, and held student meetings at his home alongside race science advocates and right-wing political figures. Orr also serves as Reform’s head of policy, and has been described as Reform leader Nigel Farage’s “kingmaker”, while US Vice President JD Vance, called him “my philosopher king”. Online magazine Aporia promoted Cofnas’s arguments through a series of essays and interviews, and published an article on 8 August calling Arday’s case “the bitter fruit of equalitarianism”. Aporia serves as the public-facing arm of the Human Diversity Foundation, now known as Polygenic Scores, which is linked to the far-right German party Alternative fü Deutschland. Aside from being supported by the US government, Cofnas has also been promoted in the past week by Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X. UK Politics Imran Mulla News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0