The University of Cambridge’s leaders deserve blame for the “grotesque racism unleashed” by Jason Arday’s appointment as professor, according to academics calling for the university to hold an independent inquiry. The group of Cambridge academics want any inquiry to include external members and be given independent status. They point to concerns over the appointment committee for Arday’s post, and to previous disputes within the university’s faculty of education where Arday was based. Jesus College, Cambridge, and the university’s faculty of education have taken down Arday’s staff profiles. Arday had signed up to speakers’ bureaus and, since his Cambridge appointment, has addressed a number of commercial organisations, including the annual conference of the Association of British Insurers in 2025.