Noose Found on Columbia Teachers' College Professor's Door

The police are investigating a hate crime at Columbia University's Teachers College after a noose was found on the door of a black professor. Teachers College president Susan Fuhrman issued a statement:

The police were here this morning because a hangman's noose was discovered on the office door of one of our African American faculty members. The incident has been reported to the New York City Police Department (Detectives Bureau of Manhattan) and is under active
investigation by the Hate Crimes Task Force.

The TC community and I deplore this hateful act, which violates every
Teachers College and societal norm.

The Columbia Spectator reports that Columbia students were referring to the incident as "Jena at Columbia."

Columbia was recently at the center of controversy about hateful outlooks: The school invited Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak last month.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 9, 2007 5:45 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

I guess it's true that Education grad students have the lowest GREs and IQs of any discipline.

guest

I am a student at Teachers College.

The accusation that the professor placed the noose on her own door is insulting, though it probably stems from a desire to pretend that there isn't hateful, racist behavior in today's day and age. This is wishful thinking, in my opinion.

Though we TC students must display ID cards when entering campus (a policy established after 9/11), the security is pretty lax--basically anyone with a driver's licence can come into the building. I saw a young woman enter campus last night (with the circus of the news crews outside, no less) *without* a TC ID OR a driver's license. She claimed she had left her wallet at home. Get on the good side of the security guard, and you're in, I guess.

My point: anyone could have done this. While it could have been a member of the Teachers College community, it could have just as well been someone who "looked" like they belong.

guest

#18: Teachers College is pretty isolated from the rest of Columbia. They even have separate presidents and trustees.

TC is all grad students and normally doesn't seem to have major overt racial tensions, or at least I haven't seen anything at TC like your described experiences at Columbia.

guest

Its funny how everyone assumes this is racism just because the professor HAPPENED to be black. It could be.

Or it could be some kid that's pissed off about his grade on the paper and is playin some sick joke.

It could be a BLACK kid. I dunno. I'd say its actually racist to just assume this.

Anyway its not right but I mean its stupid to just assume this was a racism incident without knowin anything. It wasn't exactly a burning cross, or a KKK sign.

In my HS someone hung a noose around a freshman effigy durin freshman friday. According to this moron logic they were only targeting the BLACK kids with that so I shouldnt have been scared. Was the effigy supposed to be black?

guest

Regardless of who put what where, the real question is WHO CARES?

This is a total non-story, and just because one of the city's ridiculous tabroids chose to make it front page news doesn't mean that it's really front page news.

guest

As a former Columbia student, I am not surprised by this incident or any of the recent controvies at its campus. When I first arrived at Columbia in 1988, I thought I was leaving the racism and segregation of my backwater southern hometown to attend a bastion of tolerance and liberalism. Was I ever wrong!!! My white best friend received death threats from black sorority sisters for dating a black man, orthodox Jewish students saluted Al Sharpton with "Heil Hitler" at a speaking engagement, a Middle Eastern studies professor publicly dismissed a lesbian student's research on female genital circumsion as "Orientalist", few students socialized outside their race, religion, etc.; the list goes on and on. There was more tolerance at my ghetto high school than on Columbia's campus!!! I was really disappointed that the smartest and the brightest were also the most narrow minded. It's really sad that nothing has changed.

Kojak

"How likely is it, really, that someone at Columbia would go around hanging nooses on professors' doors?"

Exactly! Columbia students are so intelligent and pure! They'd NEVER do something so despicable...

guest

My husband's and my first thought was that she did it herself.

It's getting REALLY old. How long will it take before the "Reverend" Sharpton, and the "Reverend" Jackson show up demanding attention. And then the media, like dumb sheep will show the clip OVER, OVER, OVER, AND OVER AD NASEUM......

ed_Extinct

pathetic.

guest

Yes, those crafty Machiavellian shysters...

guest

ohhhh, you mean like the jews?

guest

How likely is it, really, that someone at Columbia would go around hanging nooses on professors' doors? I'm not buying. I say it's more likely the prof most likely did it herself to "prove a point" about Jena or something. Google "Kerri Dunn" to see a similar case of a professor in California who was caught and prosecuted for doing something similar.

guest

by reading the article?

guest

how'd you know it was a female professor?

guest

Does "any publicity is good publicity" apply to Ivy League colleges...?

guest

Yes, like what happened in Long Island recently at a police station - how do you know which "party" actually planted this. It could have been Reverend Al for all we know...

guest

OHHHHHHHH, you mean like the Jews.

guest

God forgive me for thinking this...but I wouldn't be surprised if she placed the noose herself. But perversely, I hope I'm wrong.

Nick S

"Jena at Columbia?" uhhhh...overstatement much?

Elderta

I don't know... I start a job there next month, I'll let you know...

guest

can we just call columbia what it has become: clown college u? do students learn there or is one controversy after another shoved down their throats? unclear.