White’s message was a response to a statement Wednesday from Ghent University rector Petra De Sutter and vice-rector Herwig Reynaert in which they condemned “recent public statements” made by an unnamed “postdoctoral researcher” at their school. Dismissing concerns about “academic freedom,” the university announced that it would be launching a “preliminary disciplinary investigation” into the researcher as a “precautionary measure.”

“We attach great importance to academic freedom and to open academic debate, even when views are controversial,” the rectors said. “However, that freedom is not unlimited.”

Cofnas identified himself as the subject of the investigation on Thursday, suggesting “they will almost certainly fire me.”

Cofnas penned an exposé last month that documented widespread plagiarism and shoddy scholarship in Arday’s work, a black professor hired by Cambridge University with much fanfare in 2023 to conduct research on race and social injustice. Cofnas’s piece, which was published independently, sparked a media feeding frenzy as outlets worldwide began digging into Arday’s life and career.

The public began to also scrutinize the professor’s fantastical claims about his life. He claimed to have been mute until age 11 and illiterate until age 18. He said he once ran six marathons in as many days, raising millions of dollars for charity. He further claimed to have been attacked by masked men on two separate occasions, as well as receiving mutilated animal parts as a threat.

Amid a global media frenzy, Cambridge last week announced an investigation into Arday’s “academic qualifications and honorary appointments.” He resigned the same day and was found dead in his South London residence just days later.

White explicitly denounced any attempt to use Cofnas’s views as a basis for terminating his position — Cofnas, who studies the philosophy of biology, is a self-described “race realist.”

He was let go from Cambridge University’s Emmanuel College over his blog, where he frequently wrote about race. One post that drew intense backlash asserted that if a strict meritocracy were implemented, “blacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment.”

“Bad-faith ideologues will try to make this a referendum on the content of Cofnas’s scholarship – or polemical distortions of it,” White said. “That’s wrong. Free speech means that controversial views are protected. And Cofnas’s views were known to Ghent University when he was hired.”

FORMER CAMBRIDGE PROFESSOR JASON ARDAY FOUND DEAD AT 41

Thousands of Londoners gathered at Trafalgar Square in honor of Arday this week, where the late professor’s family stood by his claims that the allegations were false.

Blaming the media coverage for his death, they claimed Arday was “subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for more than three years since he accepted the role of professor at Cambridge University by those who would leave no stone unturned in their quest to undermine him.” They are now demanding an investigation into the media’s role in his death.

Even British Prime Minister Andy Burnham weighed in on the situation, telling the public that now is “not a moment for any rushing to judgment.”

“It’s a moment for reflection, I would say, reflecting on how things came to this,” Burnham said.