Boston Cancels Reparations Report After Researcher Is Found to Have Fabricated Claims in Her Book

Academic scandals are boring affairs compared to political scandals. Most of the time, academic tomfoolery involves not properly crediting a source (or 10) or making stuff up and fabricating citations. Then there are those occasional academic scandals that reveal more about the academic culture and the respected institutions that violate fundamental tenets of academic freedom. Recently, a Cambridge University scholar, Jason Arday, much celebrated for his work, was exposed as a shocking fraud. Instead of launching an investigation, Cambridge fully backed Arday, calling early scrutiny of his work a racially motivated campaign by right-wing activists. Arday took the extraordinary step...