EDITOR'S NOTE: Jason Arday apparently took his own life last week. This column was written and edited in advance of the news.

Until recently, Jason Arday was a professor of sociology of education at Cambridge University, where he was celebrated as its youngest Black professor. He has since been accused of plagiarizing portions of his doctoral dissertation and published scholarship, exaggerating his academic affiliations, and emboldening a personal history that was already inspiring.

Arday denies deliberate dishonesty, but acknowledges errors. He resigned as Cambridge was investigating his qualifications and appointment. The university, which initially denounced questions about him as part of a "vile smear campaign," has now agreed to an independent inquiry. Cambridge's vice chancellor calls the affair an "aberration," a concise way of suggesting no conclusion should be drawn about the institution that appointed and advertised him.

The apparent conduct is indefensible. Dozens of passages in Arday's 2015 dissertation resemble passages in an earlier dissertation. More seriously, some allegedly borrowed material later appeared in published scholarship as testimony from people Arday claimed to have personally interviewed. Universities dispute affiliations attributed to him. A book he claimed to have written seems not to exist. His athletic and charitable accomplishments appear exaggerated. Even his claim that he did not speak until 11 is disputed.

Liverpool John Moores University, which awarded his doctorate, previously examined plagiarism complaints and explanation.

An easy interpretation is that a........

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