Columbia Noose Professor cited for plagiarism

It's just words, right? Well, that and claims of being all about race, of course. Funny how the mystery of who planted the noose has never been resolved. I hate to say it, but I always suspected her of being the one that did it. I don't like feeling that way but I just can't shake it.

From the NY Times.

A Columbia University professor who was the apparent target of a hate crime last October, when a noose was left on her office door, has been sanctioned for plagiarism, university officials confirmed today. The plagiarism investigation of the professor, Madonna G. Constantine of Teachers College, was reported today by The Columbia Spectator. This afternoon, she called the investigation “biased and flawed” and accused the university of a “witch hunt.”

The university would not specify how Professor Constantine, a psychologist, is being punished.


A memo sent to faculty members by Susan Furhman, the president of Teachers College, and Thomas James, the provost, stated:

A year-and-a-half long investigation has found that Professor Madonna Constantine in a number of instances used the work of three others, a former TC professor and two former students, without attribution. Professor Constantine has been sanctioned by the College. Professor Constantine has the right under College statutes to appeal to the Faculty Advisory Committee. We express the appreciation of the College to former TC Professor Christine Yeh and to the former students, Tracy Juliao and Karen Cort, for their cooperation. We are also grateful that these charges were brought to the attention of the College.

The university said in a statement:

Teachers College of Columbia University confirmed today that it has sanctioned Professor Madonna Constantine after an internal investigation found numerous instances in which she used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years. The investigation, which began in 2006, was prompted by complaints from students and one former faculty member who said language from materials they wrote was included without attribution in the articles.
The investigation, which was conducted by Hughes Hubbard & Reed, a law firm with a substantial practice representing universities and academic institutions, concluded that Professor Constantine’s explanation for the strikingly similar language was not credible.

The College will not specify the sanctions imposed against Professor Constantine. Teachers College takes academic plagiarism very seriously, and must take appropriate disciplinary action when it is uncovered. Such misconduct is completely at odds with the ethos of our institution, our faculty and our students.

In a statement sent by email this afternoon to Teachers College students and faculty members, Dr. Constantine called the investigation “biased and flawed,” saying that it, coupled with “other incidents that have happened to me at Teachers College in recent months, point to a conspiracy and witch-hunt by certain current and former members of the Teachers College
community.”

“I am left to wonder whether a white faculty member would have been treated in such a publicly disrespectful and disparaging manner,” she wrote. “As one of only two tenured Black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted.”

Dr. Constantine’s lawyer, Paul J. Giacomo Jr., said in an interview that his client was, in fact, the one whose work had been plagarized. He said he had submitted “third party documentation” substantiating his case, but that “all of that was ignored, and there was this rush to judgment that was unbelievable.”

Last October, the noose case resulted in a police investigation — it still has not been solved — and also prompted campus protests. Professor Constantine, who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Memphis, is a professor of psychology and education and director of the Cultural Winter Roundtable on Psychology and Education at Teachers College.