President Trump’s ambassador to Belgium has personally intervened to demand the reinstatement of Nathan Cofnas, suspended by Ghent University after he raised plagiarism allegations against the late Jason Arday. The ambassador warned that the US is reviewing all relationships with Ghent University, suggesting “all options” are on the table. The Times has the story:
President Trump’s ambassador to Belgium has called for the reinstatement of Nathan Cofnas, the American academic who made plagiarism allegations against Jason Arday.
In an email to Ghent University, Bill White, a Republican donor appointed by President Trump as ambassador last year, asked the institution to “explore a way to rescind this decision and to ensure Nathan’s continued employment” at the university.
Cofnas, a self-described “race realist”, was suspended by Ghent University on Thursday. He had first highlighted concerns, in a Substack post last month, about the work of Arday, who later resigned as a sociology of education professor at Cambridge and was found dead last Friday.
Ghent University said it suspended Cofnas after a “preliminary disciplinary investigation”, adding that it “opposes discrimination, hatred and racism”.
In an email sent on Friday, seen by The Times, White asked Petra De Sutter, the Ghent University rector and former deputy prime minister of Belgium, to speak to him “today” about Cofnas. The issue has been raised with senior members of the Belgian government.
White described Cofnas as a “well-respected Jewish American professor” and said his letter was part of a “respectful and diplomatic attempt” to “calm things down”. He added that the issue had the full attention of the administration and suggested that “all options” were under consideration.
White’s message marks the latest example of the Trump administration’s attempts to intervene in cases of what it sees as an erosion of free speech in Europe.
The state department recently approved millions of pounds in grant funding to conservative-linked advocacy groups in Europe.
White said on social media on Friday: “Dishonest, corrupt institutions that engage in, or reward, scapegoating mob behaviour are not desirable partners for us. This is particularly true where the purpose and effect of the scapegoating is to punish accurate journalism unearthing academic dishonesty.
“We are therefore reviewing any relationships we have with Ghent University… The ultimate purpose of freedom of speech is to overturn lies, fraud and false ideologies. This is precisely what Cofnas was doing, and precisely the reason his home institution wants to silence him.”
Worth reading in full.
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Ghent “university” has taken the side of a liar and fraudster against an individual who was investigating the lies and fraud he committed.
Why? Because the liar and fraudster was a black man who got his position BECAUSE he was a black man.
And they accuse those doing the investigation of being “waycist.”
Hear, hear!
The Belgian government should have already stopped all research funding for Ghent University because they approve of plagiarism.
Nathan Cofnas was sacked by Cambridge University in 2024 for uncovering Arday’s plagiarism and other lies. This is included in the BBC’s reportage, which is almost entirely biased in favour and defence of Arday. Once again President Trump is showing us the right approach to dealing with fraud and the false ideologies of the globalists.
I’m not sure the intervention will help, especially as many Left inclined people automatically blame the USA for… everything.
However Free Speech is vanishing fast and could do with all the support possible.
It is useless to give in to the left and allow there schemes to flourish.
That is what the Tories are currently trying to make us believe: they didn’t like it and didn’t want it but some big boy whose name I’ve forgotten made me agree to unlimited immigration, wokery in all its forms, high energy prices and low reliability, high taxes and huge borrowing – it really wasn’t what I wanted. Please elect me.
“The ambassador warned that the US is reviewing all relationships with Ghent University, suggesting “all options” are on the table.” Maybe they should review their relationship with Belgium. It’s a pity Belgium have no oil or gas fields.
Absolutely brilliant move by the American Ambassador to Belgium!