14 Oxford academics have signed an online statement “opposing punishment of Nathan Cofnas for whistleblowing.” They have been joined by 794 other signatories.
The letter, addressed to the rector of Ghent University, which employs Cofnas, states that “As academics, we are concerned that Ghent University’s disciplinary proceedings against Dr Cofnas appear to constitute retaliation, at least in part, for publicizing academic misconduct that occurred in British universities.”
Cofnas, who until 2024 was affiliated with Emmanuel College, Cambridge, is the self-proclaimed “race-realist” who first accused the late Professor Jason Arday of plagiarism in June 2026. When Cofnas was appointed by Ghent in March, 45 academics at the university wrote an open letter in which they condemned the appointment because “What Cofnas and his supporters call ‘racial realism’ is the idea that we must face the supposed reality that white people are simply superior to Black people […] But that is not reality. It is racism.”
Cofnas published claims that Arday’s doctoral thesis had “many passages [plagiarised] with minimal editing, sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source.” He alleges that he first began investigating Arday, the youngest ever Black professor at the University of Cambridge, following an anonymous tip-off.
In a podcast episode published on the day of Arday’s death, Cofnas joked that “After the revolution, I’ll be the head of the department of eugenics and race...
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