Instead, thanks to a cascade of institutional dysfunction that will go down in history as uniquely bizarre and condescending—even by the considerable standards of higher ed misadministration—Jason Arday found himself in an environment where no one would say no to him, where no one would ask follow-up questions (at least out loud), and where people covered for him rather than holding him accountable. As a result, he did significant harm—to the scholars he plagiarized, the peers he wrongly beat out for a prestigious position, and (everyone keeps forgetting this) to the parents of nonverbal kids with autism, who are frequently victimized by false and suspicious claims of miracle cures like Arday’s.
None of this means he deserved to die—of course he didn’t deserve to die. But it does mean that, if we want to prevent such scandals from recurring in the future, it is imperative to learn from this rather than to use Arday’s death as an excuse to rewrite history.
