You would expect any reasonable student or staff member at Cambridge University to understand the modern proverb, “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. But the sensational life story of Professor Jason Arday, apparently, was just too good for the university’s public relations department. So good, it appears no one thought to question the truth of his incredible tale (or, in some cases, his academic output).

 I find this deeply concerning, as Cambridge University sells itself as “one of the best universities in the world”, one that contributes to society “through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence”.

The proverb is actually codified in their own Cambridge Dictionary, which defines the saying as “so good that it is hard to believe, or seeming very good but not real”. The phrase also appears on the University’s official “How to recognise a scam” page: “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” No matter.

The story, set to be published by Simon & Schuster as a memoir (Great and Unfortunate Things), goes like this. Jason Arday was born in 1985 and grew up on a council estate in Clapham, south London. He says he was diagnosed with autism and was non-verbal until the age of 11, and that he didn’t learn to read or write until he was 18. He went on to attend university, completing a PhD in education while, according to his own account, living with a benign brain tumour. In 2021, Arday was appointed Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Glasgow, widely described at the time in university and media profiles as making him one of the youngest professors in the UK.

Now, 2021 was a pivotal time for UK universities. They were cementing into policy promises they had made to confront structural racism in the wake of global Black Lives Matter protests. Arday’s professorship was framed as part of a wider (much-needed) reckoning, but in a hurry to prove that they were listening, some universities overshot the mark. They treated one spectacular life narrative as if it could magically stand in for the slow work of truly changing hiring culture and how claims are checked.

In 2023, Cambridge University made international headlines when they appointed Arday professor of sociology of education, announcing........

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