Cops Probe Source Of Noose At Columbia U.

Official: Noose Hanging On Black Professor's Door May Have Been Work Of Fellow Teacher

(CBS/AP)  Investigators on Wednesday were looking into whether a noose hanging from the door of a black professor at Columbia University was the work of disgruntled students or even a fellow professor.

A police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the investigation have not been made public, stressed that investigators were looking into a variety of possibilities. One is that the noose was placed on Madonna Constantine's door by another professor with whom she was having a dispute at the university's Teachers College, the police official said.

The incident at Columbia is just one of a dozen similar cases across the country in recent months, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. At the University of Maryland, a noose was found outside the campus's African American cultural center. And at the Coast Guard Academy, a noose was found in the office of a staffer doing racial sensitivity training.

Tuesday's discovery of the noose at Columbia has roiled the Ivy League campus, prompting a protest rally and a meeting for upset students and faculty.

"Hanging the noose on my door reeks of cowardice and fear on many, many levels,” Constantine told cheering students at the rally. “I would like the perpetrator to know I will not be silenced.”

“This is an assault on African Americans and therefore it is an assault on every one of us,” university President Lee C. Bollinger said in a statement. “I know I speak on behalf of every member of our communities in condemning this horrible action.”

Derald Wing Sue, an adjunct professor at the Teachers College who does research with Constantine, said he was at work Tuesday morning when another colleague spotted the noose hanging on Constantine's door. She wasn't in her office at the time.

"I was surprised at how brazen this act of what I consider racial hatred and cowardice is," Sue told Miller.

Constantine has written about race, including a book entitled “Addressing Racism: Facilitating Cultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings.” Students said Constantine teaches a class on racial justice.

“Clearly, it was a symbolic act of racial hatred that was intended to intimidate,” Sue said. “I felt outraged and angry that this was directed at such a close colleague and friend of mine.”

Sue said he informed Constantine about the noose and she was devastated.

“She's doing fine,” he said “She's OK. I've talked to her. She's getting a lot of support.”

An e-mail to Constantine was not immediately returned Wednesday, nor were calls to the publicist for Teachers College and Constantine's office.

As word of the incident spread, students and faculty reacted with sadness and anger.

"Race it matters, and racism exists. And we want it to stop," Teachers College student Ricco Wright told CBS News after the rally.

Graduate students at Columbia's Teachers College have threatened to strike if the administration doesn't do more to stop hate crimes on campus, reports CBS station WCBS-TV.

"We're willing to strike if we must. That's why the sign is there," one student said. "We're saying that we're willing to strike if we must -- willing to walk out if we must. We really want the university to respond to the recent hate crimes on the campus."

“It's hard hearing about it,” Danielle Green, a black student, said Wednesday. “I'm not uncomfortable here but I'm not surprised. I mean, look at the world we live in. There is a lot of racism going on.”

In the message to the college's 5,000 students and 150 faculty members explaining why police were on campus Tuesday, college president Susan H. Fuhrman said: “The Teachers College community and I deplore this hateful act, which violates every Teachers College and societal norm.”

“You would think, Columbia being such a diverse campus and New York being such a diverse city, it shouldn't happen here,” said student Mikayla Graham.

Teachers College, founded in 1887, describes itself as the nation's oldest and largest graduate school of education.

According to its Web page, the college brought black teachers from the South to New York for training in the early part of the 20th century, when schools in the South were segregated.

The college has a diverse student body, including students from nearly 80 countries. The racial breakdown is 12 percent black, 11 percent Asian American and 7 percent Hispanic.

The discovery of the hangman's noose echoes other recent incidents involving the symbol reviled by many for its association with lynchings in the Old South.

Last year in Jena, La., three white students hung nooses from a big oak tree outside Jena High School. They were suspended but not prosecuted.

Racial tensions rose and a white student was beaten unconscious three months later. Recently, thousands of people protested the arrests of six black students in the incident.

Columbia has been the site of other campus turmoil, most recently last month when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak, prompting protests by groups angry over his statements questioning the existence of the Holocaust.

Last fall, Columbia was in the spotlight when a group of students stormed a stage to silence a speech by Jim Gilchrist, the founder of a group opposed to illegal immigration.

[Cateye28]

MCVet wrote

As a legal diva you should know that indiscretions exist in all states ... not only for black folks .. but many others who are thrown into the legal gauntlet .... only to generate income for all the liars (lawyers) and their crony judges ..

And ANYTIME you have Al Sharpton (a Racist IMHO)
Jesse Jackson (flim flam artist IMHO) flying down to help a brotha out, actually all they are looking for is facetime and lets see if they crack down on their own plight within the black community ...


I agree with you to a point. As a concerned citizen you should recognize that our legal system is extremely flawed. Hence, the issues of Jena 6. The issue was never about should the 6 be punished, but the gravity of punishment compared to the many incidents and events leading up to the actual fight. Which I might add included several students, the 6 were singled out, because one of 6 had just been beaten by a group of white students and it was seen as a retaliation. Unfortunately, our justice system is based on wealth in most case than actual justice. Had the students that be beat the black student been charged with the same offenses as the Jena 6 the issue would not show how much race actually played apart in the accusations. My point is this...We are a nation that has to fight daily outside forces that wish to do us harm! When do we form an inner alliance? This is a old battle that never produces anything productive. A divided front will never defeat an outside enemy!

[scurbiedog]

Could it be she put or had the noose placed on her door for attention.Everyone was fooled by the lady claiming to have been in the towers on 9/11.She had written alot about racism in the past.At least if someone had put it there I think the best thing to have done is scoff at it and through it in the trash by going on t.v. to get your 15 min, of fame just encourages more acts of the same.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by tbweb,

Web, while I agree 100% with you, maybe it is time for all the remnants of Jim Crow''s inbred family to come out of the closet, so that we, as a nation, can finally tally their true numbers, and demonstrate the final repudiation of an idea whose time never should have been.

For the noose hangers, cross burners, and the camouflaged sympathizers, stand up, all of you, show yourselves to be the "brave standard bearers" of "white supremacy" that you try to portray yourselves as. Let us know whom to boycott, ostracize, and otherwise rid ourselves of. You are a waste of breath, a perversion of civilization, and it is time we consigned you to the compost heap of history.

[tbweb]

The more attention paid to nooses, the more nooses will appear! The worst thing that can be done is to feed it, let the noose freaks see that it works, its all about pressing peoples buttons, its all about getting attention. These matters should be handled quietly, behind the scenes.

[brianbwb-2009]

Nooses, burning crosses, etc., are relics of a past use to express frustration by the ignorant that the old ways no longer apply. We are no longer afraid of such, The ultra right racists are no longer heroes, and they are increasingly and desperately frustrated by this.

Racism has taken on a much more subtle aspect, more dangerous perhaps, but not as subliminally gratifying to those who used it as a tool to seek what used to be called self esteem.

If you neo Nazis really want to test your mettle, go preach your words in south central LA, Compton, the Bronx, Atlanta, Detroit, or any of the other areas with large populations whose ethnicities differ from yours.

How about a KKK march down Woodward Avenue? Or 125th and Lennox? Or Centenela Ave.?

Let us see how brave you really are.

Chrrrrp, chrrrrp, (sound of crickets)

Didn''t think so...

[erichsh]

I heard a local news report that the black professor herself may have put the noose on the door. If that turns out to be the case, this story will quietly disappear - you''ll never hear another word about it.

[fascistusa]

How few of you realize how things really work.

Our Government did the noose. A Federal Agent. Public Place. Corporate "News" blasts it all over the place.

You still think the Corporate "News" is real.

Divide and Conquer. If Blacks and Whites started working together... oh my God! The Serfs could actually change things!!

There are still rules even The Elite play by (for NOW)... just so long as they don''t ultimately lose...

[dowjones20k]

McVEt ...

Ironic that your using a anti semetic hate filled slogan in your little "sig heil"

Grow up ... You and all your activists elitists will NEVER make racism go away .. and the slime you speak of is the slime your advocating in your tempestuous
"sig heil" comment ...

Get real !!

[mcvet]

Get over yourselves ... you cant make some things go away and act as if they never existed ... even as bad as you would like too ..

Posted by Dowjones20k at 08:39 PM : Oct 10, 2007
+ report abuse

Yes very true but you can make the slime crawl under a rock and be afraid to stick his ugly head out. Racism is just the sick in our society trying to make themselves better that SOMEONE, ANYONE!! They are sad pathetic little people who aren''t worth anyones time or effort. When good and honest people rise up and speak out against it, the racist bigots will just fade into the woodwork again.

[mcvet]

As a legal diva you should know that indiscretions exist in all states ... not only for black folks .. but many others who are thrown into the legal gauntlet .... only to generate income for all the liars (lawyers) and their crony judges ..

And ANYTIME you have Al Sharpton (a Racist IMHO)
Jesse Jackson (flim flam artist IMHO) flying down to help a brotha out, actually all they are looking for is facetime and lets see if they crack down on their own plight within the black community ...


Posted by Dowjones20k at 09:04 PM : Oct 10, 2007
+ report abuse

This isn''t about Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson, if they are wrong then it will show up in a court of law. Anyone who has been around this kind of thing, Racism, knows how wrong it is and how deeply it is held by some slow and simple minded people. Unfortunately the slow and simple minded are also the biggest cowards and thus more likely to become violent.

[mcvet]

Katie Couric stated that frequently at least a dozen incidences such as the noose at Columbia U. has occurred. She only mention 4. Could she really come up with another 8? She said this at 6:50pm New York time.


Posted by intheknow9 at 08:17 PM : Oct 10, 2007
+ report abuse

Actually that is very low. If you want an accurate figure you should go to the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have been fighting this fight for decades and have put the Klan out of business in several cases. They track these hate groups and bigots on a daily basis. Sieg Heil Bush!!

[dowjones20k]

LegalDiva..

I would hardly consider Democracynow a NEUTRAL legitimate source ... one of the most leftist media outlets around ..

At least offer a neutral source on your Jena 6 ..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jena_Six

Read the descriptions and look at the sources they quote ..

Learn a little about your topic .. look at it with an open mind .. read the history and what the actual newspapers, teachers & adminstration say ...

These are kids ... the most disrepectful, defiant, unmotivated generation we have born in this country .. and just think it will only get worse ..

Is their a perfect judicial system? NO ..

perfect example is the Duke rape case ...

As a legal diva you should know that indiscretions exist in all states ... not only for black folks .. but many others who are thrown into the legal gauntlet .... only to generate income for all the liars (lawyers) and their crony judges ..

And ANYTIME you have Al Sharpton (a Racist IMHO)
Jesse Jackson (flim flam artist IMHO) flying down to help a brotha out, actually all they are looking for is facetime and lets see if they crack down on their own plight within the black community ...

[Pocko]

You just have to know how to work the system. And not many whites know how to do that.

[dowjones20k]

For all you pompous arrogant folks who are so shocked this is going on ....

In my lifetime, I have seen all white schools become segregated, colored only restrooms, drinking fountains disappear, ..

Odd how we Americans think that we are so much better than we really are ...

If you really think about this .. it was ONLY 40-50 years ago that we brought the majority of race segregation to an end .. and we Americans were as guilty as any for all the strife we caused.

But is it strife? Or progress .. one generation at a time.

We are moving to a complacent, diverse & tolerant society .. even if it kills us ... computers, u-tube, garbage TV, myspace ... adolecent girls wearing provocative clothing, schools that are now babysitters ..... laws on the books that are not enforced, anarchy or worse ...

Racism is alive and well ... and will always be that way .. not as blatant .. but we all know that we tell the jokes ... and look at the emails ..


So we will get to where all the elitists think we should be .... You just can''t ignore the facts of when it began ...

As my grandfather used to say ...

Patience my boy ....

Get over yourselves ... you cant make some things go away and act as if they never existed ... even as bad as you would like too ..

[vancouverboo]

The schoolteacher did it herself. You saw it here first.

[cfcrta]

i think the guys from the college that had the rape case going on with nifong should expand there lawsuit to include the black rascist organizations that helped perpetuate that crime /isnt there a law against conspiricy ?dont the black groups conspire against the whites ?if the black groups do not conspire against the whites then why was the ending of AMISTAAD changed ?the slaves won there freedom went back to africa and went into the slave trade themselves as a business but black groups payed money so that this would not be shown /if u fail to remember history u are doomed to repete it /naacp helped pay to have the truth not shown look it up

[intheknow9]

Katie Couric stated that frequently at least a dozen incidences such as the noose at Columbia U. has occurred. She only mention 4. Could she really come up with another 8? She said this at 6:50pm New York time.

[Cateye28]

Here is a link to more info on Jena six... educate yourself before speaking:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413220

[linfinster]

I am tires and weary of all the foolish news that takes precedence over important, real, relevant and meaningful current events.

Posted by preacherbob1 at 05:38 PM : Oct 10, 2007

Well, PREACHERBOB1, so sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled programing of violence, greed and murder ... but you MIGHT want to consider that this county is in the middle of yet another crisis that just might affect you soon enough. Ya might wanna take your head outta your A*S*S and see what''s going on ..

[keithle1]

Lawd have mercy. When will it end?