The US Ambassador to Belgium has condemned Ghent University’s suspension of Nathan Cofnas in the “strongest terms”.

“The United States government regularly funds and supports research, academic exchanges, and other engagements with overseas universities,” US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White posted on X. “Dishonest, corrupt institutions that engage in, or reward, scapegoating mob behavior are not desirable partners for us.”

The statement added that Washington was “therefore reviewing any relationships we have with Ghent University”, accusing the university of retaliating against “race-realist” academic Nathan Cofnas over his reporting on former Cambridge professor Jason Arday.

The intervention comes after Ghent University suspended Cofnas on Thursday. The university said the suspension was a precautionary measure while it examines the researcher’s public statements following the death of Arday.

Cofnas had publicly accused the former Cambridge professor of plagiarism in posts published in July, alleging that sections of Arday’s doctoral thesis closely resembled — and in some cases copied verbatim — earlier academic work. He later expanded his criticism to Arday’s wider academic record and his appointment at Cambridge.

Arday resigned from Cambridge earlier this month and was found dead at a London address days later. The former professor denied the plagiarism allegations, while Cambridge had begun an investigation before his resignation.

Ghent University issued a statement on Wednesday saying it was “shocked” by Arday’s death. It said that it “attached great importance” to academic freedom, but that freedom is not “unlimited”. Cofnas announced his suspension on X a day later, stating that he was being investigated for what he described as “discriminating against Arday” and predicting that he would “almost certainly” be fired. The university has not publicly detailed the specific allegations against him, citing the confidentiality of the disciplinary process.

The US ambassador’s statement rejected the suggestion that the dispute should be reduced to Cofnas’s controversial views on race and scholarship. “Bad-faith ideologues will try to make this a referendum on the content of Cofnas’s scholarship – or polemical distortions of it,” it said. “That’s wrong.”

It further argued that controversial opinions are protected by free speech and noted that Cofnas’s views were known to Ghent University when he was hired. “The ultimate purpose of freedom of speech is to overturn lies, fraud, and false ideologies,” it said. “This is precisely what Cofnas was doing, and precisely the reason his home institution wants to silence him.”