Nathan Cofnas is the American who dragged the Jason Arday plagiarism scandal into public view in July. A former Cambridge research fellow and outspoken critic of DEI, he published the evidence after universities and a specialist publication had failed to act. Ghent University, where he joined as a postdoctoral researcher this year, has now suspended him.
The university removed Cofnas from his duties while admitting that it was still assessing whether there was enough evidence to refer him to a disciplinary body. He was punished first. Ghent can work out the accusation later.
The decision came under Petra De Sutter, Ghent’s transgender rector and former Green deputy prime minister. The official statement praises academic freedom before warning that it is “not unlimited”. At institutions such as Ghent, that formula means freedom lasts until the politically protected side complains.
The Lesson to Be Learned Here
According to extracts from his suspension letter made public by a Ghent academic, the university objects to Cofnas describing Arday as a “worthless scholar” and characterizes his public interventions as a “crusade” developing into “targeted campaigns of professional elimination”.
