Nathan Cofnas, the academic who exposed Cambridge University Professor Jason Arday's plagiarism, was reportedly suspended by the Ghent University for "discrimination."
I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me.
— Nathan Cofnas (@nathancofnas) August 20, 2026
The decision was made by rector Petra De Sutter, a former leader of the Green Party.
The move came after Cofnas announced he was being investigated for his reporting on Jason Arday.
I am under investigation by my university for discriminating against Arday pic.twitter.com/mOyUPh2Y0B
— Nathan Cofnas (@nathancofnas) August 20, 2026
The statement reads:
Over the past few days, Ghent University has received many enquiries following the death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday and the public reactions to it.
We are aware of the questions and concerns surrounding this matter and understand that it has affected many people. We wish to clarify how the university is handling this situation. First and foremost, Ghent University is shocked by the death of Professor Arday. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues, and students. His death has also hit our own academic community hard.
At the same time, we wish to be clear about the values we uphold as a university. Ghent University stands for respect for human dignity and opposes discrimination, hatred, and racism. We attach great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial. However, that freedom is not unlimited. It goes hand in hand with responsibility and it may be restricted to protect the rights of others.
For this reason, the university takes recent public statements made by a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University regarding this matter very seriously. Ghent University has decided to take appropriate action within its powers and the applicable framework. We do not wish to pre-empt any potential decisions at this state, in order to maintain objectivity. It is important to be transparent, whilst also respecting the confidentiality inherent in a personnel file.
The death of Professor Arday should prompt reflection. We hope that lessons will be learnt from what has happened regarding the way we treat one another both within and outside the academic world, particularly when peopel become the subject of public controversy.
By suspending Cofnas, they proved everything in that statement was a lie.
A university is punishing one of its academics for reporting out a black leftist academic’s plagiarism. This is the tyranny and wickedness of DEI.
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) August 20, 2026
Yes, it is.
DEI must be tyrannical because it cannot win on the merits.
In which Ghent University shows its commitment to academic fraud
— Northern Barbarian (@xnoesbueno) August 20, 2026
Depending on who is conducting the fraud, yes.
When leftists bullied a legitmate conservative criminology professor into suicide...they laughed https://t.co/9pkYVQ6xF2
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) August 20, 2026
Yes, they did.
I'd never heard of Nathan Cofnas until this week, and all I know about him is that the worst people in the world are very angry at him and don't want me to listen to him, so I guess I have to follow him now. https://t.co/5n1u1wZnXz
— Wings Over Scotland (@WingsScotland) August 20, 2026
The Streisand Effect is real.
A media witch hunt, partly led by the BBC, has succeeded in getting Nathan Cofnas suspended. He was the whistleblower who exposed Cambridge and Jason Arday when no journalist was brave enough to do so.
— Steven Edginton (@StevenEdginton) August 20, 2026
This is an attack on academic freedom and freedom of speech by some of the… https://t.co/goG00Q8hBK
That's exactly what this is.
Weird how the people outraged by the "hounding" of Jason Arday delight in and encourage the actual hounding of the person who exposed him.
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) August 20, 2026
Arday was not fired from his job or denied employment opportunities. On the contrary, he was given and retained jobs for which he was not… https://t.co/xUeNGkaj1k
They will not care about the reports on Cofnas, which will expose what lying hypocrites they are.