Oriel College Urged to Cancel Student Event Featuring Jason Arday's Accuser

Oriel College at the University of Oxford is facing calls to cancel an event featuring Nathan Cofnas, the academic and blogger who made unproven accusations of plagiarism against Jason Arday. The event has been organised by student supporters of Reform UK.

Arday, 41, was found dead in August after resigning from his professorship at the University of Cambridge. He had been under intense media scrutiny after Cofnas alleged plagiarism, which was not proven, and said there were "serious questions" about his biographical claims.

Cofnas has been accused of promoting pseudoscientific ideas of racial difference in his online writings. He is expected to speak at an event titled "An evening with Nathan Cofnas: Is DEI undermining higher education?" in Oriel's Harris lecture theatre on 17 November. The event is being run by Oxon Universities' Reform Society (OURS), a student group set up this year to support Reform UK.

An open letter has been signed by Oxford campaign groups, British academics, members of the public and Oxford alumni. It urges Oriel to "withdraw its facilities from the event". The signatories argue the event "risks creating a hostile and exclusionary environment for students, particularly those of ethnic minorities" and "risks undermining Oriel's role as a world-class educational institution". They note that 2026 marks the 700th anniversary of the college's royal charter.

The letter also accuses Cofnas of using his platform to assert discriminatory beliefs and claims his blogging played a significant role in the coverage Arday faced.

Days before Arday's death, Kehinde Andrews, the author and the UK's first professor of Black studies, told the Guardian that Arday was facing a "dedicated, coordinated smear campaign from the right, based on the premise that Black people should not be at Cambridge". Reacting to news of the Oriel event, Andrews described it in an online post as "despicable and disgusting".

Oriel said it is committed to upholding freedom of speech within the law and has a statutory duty to do so, including the freedom to express views that many find deeply offensive. It added that it is also committed to promoting inclusion and an environment free from all forms of discrimination and harassment, including racial discrimination. The college said it considers events booked by committee members of registered student societies under its code of practice on freedom of speech, and that permitting an event does not imply endorsement of a speaker's views. It also said it takes the security implications of events and the safety of its members seriously.

OURS said on X that Cofnas and the organisers had faced "a disturbing torrent of online hostility". In a statement, the society said that as a registered student society at the University of Oxford, constituent colleges "are under a legal obligation to host events like ours". It said it remained committed to hosting Cofnas and to allowing attendees to engage in respectful dialogue with him.

The society added that it found it strange that the university or any of its colleges should suffer reputational damage over the event, saying the decision was made solely by its committee and that responsibility rests exclusively with it. Cofnas was approached for comment.