"Noose" Professor Charged With Plagiarism

Columbia University Says Black Teacher Who Found Noose On Office Door Took Work Of Others

(CBS/AP)  A Columbia University professor whose colleagues found a noose hanging from her office doorway has plagiarized the work of others, the school says. Madonna G. Constantine denies the finding and says the accusation is racially motivated.

The university's Teachers College announced Wednesday it had imposed "serious sanctions" against Constantine following a lengthy investigation it said uncovered "numerous instances in which she used others' work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years."

Constantine's lawyer, Paul J. Giacomo Jr., said his client could prove her innocence and called the school's investigation "extremely underhanded from the beginning." He said he would appeal the sanctions, which neither side would disclose.

The inquiry into Constantine, an education and psychology professor who has written extensively about race, was launched in 2006, long before the noose was discovered this past October, the school said.

"The investigators found a real pattern - two dozen instances of similar language from three people who came forward separately," Teachers College spokeswoman Marcia Horowitz said. "Dr. Constantine's explanation was not credible."

In a written statement, Constantine said she had been subjected to "a conspiracy and witch-hunt by certain current and former members of the Teachers College community."

Her lawyer said she had "clearly" been targeted because of her race, and he said he believed the noose incident and the plagiarism investigation might be linked.

"There's been an effort to intimidate my client, that's clear," Giacomo said.

Horowitz dismissed Giacomo's claims, saying "it is both absurd and untrue that racism had anything to do with this report."

"Teacher's College has zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or prejudice of any kind," she said.

Columbia said some of the plagiarized work was written by Christine Yeh, a former colleague of Constantine's who is now with the University of San Francisco.

“I’m really hopeful other people will come forward now,” Yeh told The New York Times. “When the initial charges were made, there were many students involved who didn’t feel they could follow up. They were too scared, and they were afraid of retribution.”

When Constantine's colleagues discovered the noose, a symbol of lynchings in the Deep South, hanging from her office door, the incident roiled the Ivy League campus and gained national attention.

Police at the time ruled out any possibility that Constantine had hung the rope herself. A few weeks later, a swastika was discovered on the door of a Jewish professor at Teachers College.

Investigators have yet to make an arrest in either incident.

[libsrc0kskrs]

"Truth be told the majority of people commenting on here (sbbm, thgdriver, poopusbuttus) are like the majority of Americans. Easily fooled, and not well educated. Why do you think George W. Bush won the election twice??? If I lived in the suburbs and watched the news and read the internet, I would think the world............ Well I have been blessed to have a brain..........If I eat a bad hamburger and say, ALL HAMBURGERS ARE BAD DONT EAT THEM, that is generalizing. **************The way the majority of you speak********, I can tell you are not well rounded or cultured individuals, and to argue with you would be a waste of time and effort. You cant win an arugement with a fool. This is my last post. Everybody lighten the F_ _ K up!! Its 2008, not 1908.

Posted by djrdub at 08:04 PM : Feb 21, 2008
+ report abuse

************typical self proclaimed psuedo enligthened moron..cant really smell his own SHI*T on how own knees....

talks about generalization by generalizing everybody...

[dowjones20k]

In my experience .. professors are just egotistical money ****** ... who are holding colleges hostage ..
so this one is no different ..
Tenured professors are the worst .. going on paid sabtical then writing the book, then forcing the institution to make thier book mandatory reading for class .. so they not only reap the salary, they reap the book royalties ... get their ego stroked by writing a book ... and then force students to have labs taught by student teachers .. paid for by the college ...

and we wonder why college tutition has tripled in the past few years?

Dont take no brain surgeon to figure that one out !!

So this gal may be looking for another position ...

[djrdub-2009]

Truth be told the majority of people commenting on here (sbbm, thgdriver, poopusbuttus) are like the majority of Americans. Easily fooled, and not well educated. Why do you think George W. Bush won the election twice??? If I lived in the suburbs and watched the news and read the internet, I would think the world was ending too, and that minorities are criminals, white people are perfect and that Bush was my savior. Well I have been blessed to have a brain that tells me to go out and experience things for myself, then come to a rational conclusion. I have friends that live in poor areas and friends that are millionaires and I visit both. I have visited my friends in the poor areas thousands of times and have never been attacked, shot at, sold drugs to, and thats the God to Honest truth. But if your only key to other cultures is television and the internet, then I understand why you would have such a warped view of them. When you generalize like you do, you cease to use logic. If I eat a bad hamburger and say, ALL HAMBURGERS ARE BAD DONT EAT THEM, that is generalizing. The way the majority of you speak, I can tell you are not well rounded or cultured individuals, and to argue with you would be a waste of time and effort. You cant win an arugement with a fool. This is my last post. Everybody lighten the F_ _ K up!! Its 2008, not 1908.

[bedwetter777]

sbbm, if you answer each of the specific questions that I ask in my posts individually I think you will understand what I am getting at. Which is--Don''t judge a person before you''ve walked a mile in their shoes. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Start with the question-- What does the saying "He was born on third base but thinks he hit a triple" mean? Write your answers down so you don''t forget them.

[thgdriver]

Academic integrity is fundamental and plagiarisms are not acceptable.

Posted by george2221

If you have a tired, dog eared, worn out race card like she carries, your covered. It''s like a get out of jail free card in monopoly.

[thgdriver]

These cowards should be banned from the internet---
posted by djrdub

I am shocked!, shocked!, when I read you wanted others banned.

Hummmmm, lets look that up---Banned---to prohibit, "segregate", keep separate, not allowed, quarantined.

Very shocking behaver from such a civil, self righteous person like yourself. Shame on you. After the genetic lesson I was just about to call you BRO too!

[bedwetter777]

Have you all been the President of the United States? Why not? What would you think of the President of the United States calling you lazy because you are not the President of the United States? Have you ever heard the expression "He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple?" Are all the blessings that you have in your life all your own doing? Did you choose you parents?

[denn034]

I''ll bet she was the one that put the noose up too. If she put up that swastika up, then, she''s downright disgusting. Creating racial tension for any reason is disgusting. Period!

[bedwetter777]

What kind of grades did everyone here get in school? Did you get all A''s? Did you not get all A''s because you chose not to get all A''s in school? Other people got all A''s, so that must mean you''re lazy right? What would you think of a person who got all A''s calling you lazy because you didn''t? What about sports? Are you all Heisman Trophy winner? What would you think of a Heisman trophy winner who called you lazy because you didn''t earn a Heisman Trophy?

[poopusbuttus]

Yep I knew it...a bunch of nazi racists on this forum. Poopus buttus, thg driver, total uneducated, inbred, idiots. These cowards should be banned from the internet spreading and spewing the racist hate.

The truth finally comes out...see what I mean civil people. Ignorance at it finest. We are all built from the same genetic code, be it black, latino, asian, anglo. Its a scientific fact.

For some reason, racists do not want to except this truth.


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Posted by djrdub


Yeah, we are all built on the same genetic level. However, I''m confused as to why genetics doesnt determine whether myself, or a black individual pulls out the race card"?

[thgdriver]

so that must mean that you just haven''''t worked as hard as them, right?
Posted by bedwetter777

Wrong-- Just can''t seem to come up with the right power ball yet.

[djrdub-2009]

Yeah the noose was used in other cultures on CRIMINALS. The noose in America was used to LYNCH innocent people because of the color of there skin rusham71! Read your history.

Yep I knew it...a bunch of nazi racists on this forum. Poopus buttus, thg driver, total uneducated, inbred, idiots. These cowards should be banned from the internet spreading and spewing the racist hate.

The truth finally comes out...see what I mean civil people. Ignorance at it finest. We are all built from the same genetic code, be it black, latino, asian, anglo. Its a scientific fact.

For some reason, racists do not want to except this truth.

[thgdriver]

Investigators have yet to make an arrest in either incident. Speaking of the noose and swastika.

That''s really strange, because whoever did it would probably be inclined to brag about it to some others.

We all know 3 people can keep a secret if two are dead.

Could be she hung the noose and planted the swastika to through off suspicion. If she did it, is she too smart to brag about it? But then we thought O J was too smart to do what he did in Vegas.

[bedwetter777]

Any billionaires here? Why don''t you have a billion dollars? Did you just choose not to have a billion dollars? Are you lazy because you don''t have a billion dollars? Other people have billions of dollars, so that must mean that you just haven''t worked as hard as them, right? What would you think of a billionaire who called you lazy because you didn''t have as much money?

[oeangus]

Aw, little boy on the internet likes to use racial slurs! Isn''t he cute?

[paris1969]

she can blame it on "obamamania" syndrome ... after all, she is accused of doing what he did .. and the obamamites don''t have a problem with it.

[rushman71]

The noose has been used for hundreds of years, killing thousands and thousands of people of all different types of races. But thanks to Al and Jesse and the whole NAACP, I feel uncomfortable to even think of playng the game "Hangman". Would that be considered "racial", too!!! This has gone WAAAAAYYYYY too far, people.

[mudrose-2009]

For God''s sake, just kick the chair out from under her and be done with it.

[poopusbuttus]

Thats unfortunate, where can I send a get well card?


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Posted by thgdriver


HAHAHAHAHA. Good one.....

[thgdriver]

I''m a liberal, Posted by roger_inkart

Thats unfortunate, where can I send a get well card?