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Madonna Constantine, the Columbia Teachers College professor whose office door had a noose hanging on it, was suspended indefinitely for committing plagiarism. The NY Times characterizes the move as a firing, noting a letter from Teachers College says, "We are terminating Madonna Constantine’s employment with Teachers College for cause, subject to a hearing before a faculty committee. In the interim Professor Constantine is suspended, effective immediately.”
Earlier this year, the Teachers College sanctioned Constantine for plagiarism, after an 18-month-long investigation stemming from students' and a former faculty member's complaints. Constantine called the probe a "conspiracy" and "witch-hunt," accusing the Teachers College of retaliation, targeting her, one of the two tenured black women professors at the school, and slamming her accusers. (It should be noted two of the graduate students accusing Constantine of plagiarism are minorities, one black and one Asian). For instance, her lawyer sent a spreadsheet to the Sun, trying to debunk the claims, but one of the accusers said, "An independent law firm and a faculty committee at Teachers College both found Constantine guilty of plagiarism based upon documentation provided by myself (and others), as well as by Constantine. As a faculty member in the department where drafts of my work were filed, she had access to my work long before it was published."
The school's letter notifying faculty of Constantine's dismissal also noted that Constantine's publicizing of the plagiarism probe, as well as her criticisms of her accusers, played a role in the decision. Karen Cort, whose work had been apparently used by Constantine, said she was satisfied with the outcome, "It saddens me that she's using racism. I think racism is a real thing, but I don't feel this investigation was against her because she's a black woman. It was because she abused her power."
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"one of the two tenured black women professors at the school"
Isn't that kind of, well, sad?
Anyway, like all people who plagiarize, she should go. But to only have one Tenured black woman on the staff is pathetic.
If there were a lot of qualified black women being denied tenure at the school, that might indicate a problem.
But taken by itself, knowing only that there are 2 black women tenured professors isn't enough information. How many tenured professors are there at the school? How often is tenure granted? What is the race/gender composition of the qualified applicants?
Coming soon: A burning cross mysteriously appears on Constantine's office door. She hires a publicist, who declares that she's being targeted because of her race. Headlines blare. NYPD assigns 20 detectives to find the "culprit." A grandstanding City Council member introduces legislation to outlaw burning crosses. The ACLU holds a press conference to condemn the City Council. Al Sharpton gets his picture in the Daily News.
Now if only she faced charges stemming from the noose on the door. Of course she did it. Look at the fat liar's face.
I knew the race card would be played. Say something Al.
JenChungsBra, I think she may have already tried that -- this time around people would be a little more skeptical. What's sad is that racism certainly does exist in some workplaces and certainly does play a role in some adverse employment actions.
False claims like this -- surmising without knowing all the facts that she made the story up to cover her ass -- create an atmosphere where we treat all claims with a degree of suspicion; by pretending to be a victim, she's harming the very community she claims to be an advocate for.
eyekantspel, I agree with you wholeheartedly. People like her make me angry because they undermine any real discussion about racism in the workplace.
#1 - THis is the reason why they only have 2 tenured black people. DESPICABLE! What would George Washington Carver think?
Baby H. GWC would say have a nice peanut butter sandwich on rye and chill out.
#3,4, 6, 7 Thanks for the insight.
It was always my belief that she planted the noose on her own door. Odd that no other nooses were found on the campus (and only one or two copy-cats in the entire city).
Seeing that she plagiarized, is crying wolf regarding a noose much different?
Shame, shame, shame!
How many Hispanic women do they have tenured? Asian? Serbo Croatian? Italian? Handicapped? Russian?
Go Columbia beat West Harlem!
Funny JMH :)
If she was a white male she probably would have been canned months ago.
Firing a tenured teacher is very tough and expensive. That's why it's very rare. To go through this long process and lose means the evidence was overwhelming.
"one of the two tenured black women professors at the school"
I'm betting that she is one of two tenured black women professors at Columbia’s Teachers College, rather than Columbia University as a whole.
Either way, they obviously bent over backwards for years to retain her. That she was unqualified yet still granted tenure would seem to indicate that Columbia’s Teachers College was desperate to keep it real.
Much like the Democratic Party!
Nobody gets tenure anymore, especially those sickening, ignorant plagiarists who cry "racism" at the drop of a dunce cap. Columbia should never tenure any plagiarist no matter how compelling the story from The Plagiarist Experience.
#3 - a direct hit. Let's see if she dares.