Agree. People who are essentially racists and hung up on their obsession with so-called DEI appointments are going to continue to focus on Arday’s shortcomings rather than this. But to go back to the original subject of this thread: it is the racist, anti-DEI mob that hounded Arday to his death.
Comment on Racism Pushed Jason Arday to the Top of the News Agenda
iocase@lemmy.zip 20 hours agoThis is why it’s not Ardays fault but the people who are responsible for verifying the background of the person they hired, and maintaining academic integrity. He should never have been in that position to begin with if they had even bothered to do their jobs right.
tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 18 hours ago
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 4 hours ago
Or was it the pro-DEI mob who elevated an academic to a position they didn’t deserve and put them in the firing line, labelling any complaint as racist? Neither scenario is satisfactory.
To be clear, the “shortcoming” here is plagiarism and falsifying evidence, the worst offence in academia. Sure, the racist anti-DEI mob played a part. But is that because they were the only ones prepared to stick their heads above the parapets?
There were many regular academic colleagues of his who expressed concerns when the investigation bothered to ask, but for some reason they were afraid to lodge the initial complaint themselves. This is concerning.
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 8 hours ago
Oh it’s Arday’s fault for ripping off his students and committing academic fraud. Completely on him.
It’s the College’s and University’s fault for Blackwashing and promoting someone to a position they didn’t deserve to get good publicity. Also their fault for offhandedly dismissing complaints about him as racism.
It’s the media’s fault for overexposing the story, though it’s silly season and a perfect silly story.
iocase@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
I think that’s reasonable but someone like Arady should never ever have been in that position to begin with which is my main point. Is it the village idiot’s fault for being the village idiot? Or is it the university’s fault for making the village idiot the Dean?
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 4 hours ago
And this is the problem with DEI implementation. For everry worthy hire, there is the risk of an institution forcing through an unworthy candidate for PR optics purposes. When people are so convinced of their righteousness it’s tempting to label dissent as racist out of hand. It’s deeply concerning that the rally in Trafalgar Square attracted non-critical support from senior MPs including Zack Polanski and Jeremy Corbyn, without any apparent critical thinking involved.