A former student of Jason Arday has alleged that the academic accused her of possessing "white privilege" after she questioned a low grade she received in his class. The student, who spoke anonymously to the website Unherd, described Arday's teaching at Roehampton University in 2018 as "terrible," citing issues with punctuality, inadequate preparation for essays, and a tendency to offer generalized views on racism without academic grounding.
According to the former student, Arday's demeanor shifted from friendly to angry and fearful when she sought feedback on a 70% mark. She claims he implied she was racist and that her dissatisfaction with the grade stemmed from her "white privilege." The student stated that she ended the meeting as quickly as possible.
Arday, a former Cambridge academic, resigned from his post last week following accusations of plagiarism and fabricated academic credentials. He cited the "personal cost" of the controversy as the reason for his departure and canceled promotional events for his memoir, "Great and Unfortunate Things."
The allegations from the former student emerged as Britain's largest teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), distanced itself from an open letter that had initially supported Arday. The NEU's General Secretary, Daniel Kebede, had signed the letter, which characterized the accusations against Arday as a "smear campaign" and "entirely false." However, the NEU later clarified that while Kebede believes in due process, "in light of new information," a different statement appealing for a fair investigation would have been preferable.
Three academics have since removed their names from the open letter. Additionally, internet users have suggested that Arday copied the title of his book from a 2010 television series.
A spokesperson for the University of Roehampton stated that Professor Jason Arday was employed there as a senior lecturer from September 2017 to February 2019 and that their review of student casework records found no complaints related to him during his tenure.
Arday has been contacted for comment, and the Good Law Project, which hosted the initial letter of support, declined to comment, noting they had merely carried the statement and not authored it.