Black Professor at Columbia Who Found Noose on Her Office Door Fired for Plagiarism

Last fall, Madonna C. Constantine, a tenured professor of psychology and education at Teachers College of Columbia University, found a noose on the outside of her office door. Police were unable to determine who left the noose.

Then in February, Columbia announced that Professor Constantine had been accused of plagiarizing the work of two students and one professor. According to Teachers College, there were “numerous instances in which she used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years.” An investigation by a legal team found about two dozen instances of plagiarism.

Constantine denied the charges saying she was the victim of a “witch hunt” and that it was her work that had been plagiarized by her accusers. At that time Teachers College said that Professor Constantine would be disciplined but not dismissed.

Now, with students mostly off campus for the summer, Columbia has announced that Professor Constantine will in fact be dismissed from her tenured position.

Constantine has been at Teachers College since 1998 and had won tenure in 2001. She is a graduate of Xavier University in Louisiana. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Memphis.

Copyright © 2008. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.