Cambridge University's chancellor has criticised the "racist feeding frenzy" around Jason Arday, the professor who died after stepping down during a plagiarism row.

Arday - who became the university's youngest black professor when appointed in 2023 - had faced weeks of media coverage over plagiarism allegations and questions about his achievements. He denied the claims.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Lord Chris Smith said academic integrity could be upheld while questioning Arday's treatment.

Over 30,000 people, including Diane Abbott and Jameela Jamil, have signed a Good Law Project petition seeking an inquiry into coverage of Arday, which says his death followed "two weeks of relentless harassment".

In a statement following the professor's death, Lord Smith said: "I do believe it is possible to hold to two principles at the same time: to believe in the importance of academic integrity, and where criticisms of plagiarism arise, about any academic, whoever they are, ensure that they are rigorously investigated.

"And also to refuse to join in a racist feeding frenzy over a particular academic. "

Cambridge University initially said claims of plagiarism regarding Arday's thesis and some journal publications had been investigated by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and the journals in question.

LJMU - which awarded Arday his PhD in 2015 - concluded that he had not plagiarised work.

But last week, Cambridge announced an independent investigation into his appointment.

Arday, 41, was found dead at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday. He had resigned as a Cambridge professor of sociology of education on 5 August.

But he stressed that his resignation should not "be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me".

Sir James Cleverly said he was angry with the situation, and that this never would have happened if the "people within the university establishment - not just Cambridge - had done the robust due diligence and checking that should happen with any senior academic appointment".

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme on Monday, the shadow housing secretary said he felt Arday was used as "bragging rights by some universities", and that people spoke of his "age and his ethnicity rather than his talent".

"I think it was part of the reason that he was lifted so high so quickly and then when the scrutiny did come - external to the universities - his reputation had so far to fall. I think it was unfair on him and I think it's been a terrible, terrible situation."

Sir James - who was Britain's first black home secretary and foreign secretary - said much of the coverage surrounding Arday was "quite possibly" motivated by racism, but that the questions over plagiarism were legitimate, regardless of motivation.

Meanwhile, when housing minister Matthew Pennycook, was questioned over whether the press behaved poorly, he echoed comments by the prime minister that it was not the time to "rush to judgement on this".

"I do think the events leading up to his death raised questions about duty of care and the nature of modern media scrutiny, but I don't think the time is now to get into a debate about those, I certainly don't intend to sit here and opine on them myself," he said.

Pennycook added that it was a time to reflect and "think compassionately about how we got to this situation, which is a desperately, desperately sad one".

The row first erupted after another academic - self-defined "race realist" Nathan Cofnas, who was sacked from his Cambridge role in 2024 - said he found numerous instances of plagiarism in the professor's work.

Cofnas's post had been terminated amid a backlash to his view that under a true meritocracy black people would "disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment".

Cambridge had celebrated Arday's appointment as a young black professor, one of a tiny and visible minority in academia. Only 1% of professors in UK universities are black, making each appointment hugely significant.

A vigil organised by the group Stand Up To Racism is set to take place on Monday evening in Trafalgar Square.

On Sunday, more than 200 people attended a vigil at Cambridge that was organised by Arday's postdoctoral students.