The Columbia Teachers College professor who was in the news last year when a noose was found on her office door angrily denied she plagiarized others' work. Madonna Constantine, who the Teachers College sanctioned after a year-and-a-half investigation, will appeal the charges. Constantine, who remains a tenured professor, issued a statement, calling the memo (released to TC faculty) discussing sanctions "premature, vindictive, and mean-spirited," lacking "sensitivity and due process." She wondered "whether a White faculty......

After a year-plus long investigation, Columbia Teachers College has sanctioned a professor for plagiarism. And the professor happens to be Madonna Constantine, the professor who found a noose on her office door last fall. The Columbia Spectator got confirmation that the Teachers' College “found numerous instances in which she [Constantine] used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years: "Prompted by complaints from students and one former......

“I don’t think we should rush to give Columbia University a Christmas present,” city councilman Charles Barron said before voting against Columbia University’s 17-acre, $7 billion dollar expansion plan. But though many council members dissented or declined to vote, the plan was approved yesterday by the city council, who voted a month earlier than expected. The stage is now set for what could be a fierce eminent domain battle between the university and some commercial......

That group of Columbia University students staging a hunger strike is at least a little victorious, if starving, today. Last night, the university agreed to a number of demands relating to the students' concerns that not enough was being down to encourage ethnic studies and understanding other cultures (especially in the wake of recent hate crimes). From the Columbia Spectator:The University has committed to pay for the expansion of the Office of Multicultural Affairs......

The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter......

Six anonymous students at Columbia University have gone on a hunger strike to protest the administration's attitude and position on a number of issues, including Columbia's plans for West Harlem/Manhatanville, a series of hate crimes on campus and lack of an ethnic studies program. You can see the full list of demands at the strikers website, as well as explanations for questions like "Why now?"The recent acts of hate on this campus have lent urgency......

A spray-painted swastika was found on the door of a Columbia University Teacher's College professor yesterday morning. Professor Elizabeth Midlarsky, who is Jewish and researches the Holocaust, said she had been "more public" about her work on the Holucaust, "I think there's a very hate-filled person who is an extreme coward. It makes my blood run cold." Midlarsky had received an anti-Semitic flier in her school mailbox on October 17. On October 24, she received......

The professor at Columbia University's Teacher College whose office door was found with a noose on it spoke out for the first time yesterday. Madonna Constantine told students that gathered for a rally, "This is a heinous and highly upsetting incident. I am upset that our community has been exposed to a blatantly vile incident like this. It is an act of cowardice. I would like the perpetrator to know that I will not be......

Faculty and students are reeling after a noose was found on the door of a black professor's office at Columbia University's Teachers College yesterday. The NYPD's Hate Crime task force is investigating the incident and the professor has been identified in the media as Professor Madonna Constantine, whose interests are listed as "Cultural competence in counseling, training, and supervision. Mental health issues of people of color in the United States and immigrants. Vocational issues of......

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......

A huge crowd fathering in Washington Square Park last night to hear Senator Barack Obama speak. He mentioned that he "used to hang out in Washington Square Park" and that he knew "a little something about Greenwich Village." His speech touched upon issues like making college more affordable and how his relative lack of experience didn't matter, "Longevity does not guarantee good judgment. A long resume says nothing about your character.” And there was love:......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is visiting Columbia University today to give a speech for the World Leaders Forum. And he continued to get a big New York-style welcome: The Daily News has its "The Evil Has Landed" cover while Assemblyman Dov Hikind told protesters outside Columbia's gates yesterday, “He should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not speak at the university, for God’s sake. I call on New Yorkers to make the......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad headed to New York today, but not telling Iranian state-run TV, "The United States is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions." He added that the U.N. General Assembly was an "important podium" for Iran's views to be......

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York is sure going to be a doozey. He may have decided not to visit Ground Zero anymore, but his appearance at Columbia University, to participate in a World Leaders Forum, has many people upset. The Daily News takes on the story on the front cover again ("Access of Evil") and has an excoriating editorial: "By extending an invitation to Ahmadinejad, the leaders of Columbia's School of......

Just a day after it was announced that Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, could be returning to speak at Columbia University, the Columbia Political Union voted against having him back when it learned that there would be no counter-point speaker. Gilchrist's 2006 appearance at Columbia sparked protests that got out of hand as demonstrators rushed the stage where he was speaking and participants got physical. Eight students were disciplined following the......

Columbia security, get that riot gear ready! Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project, the pseudo-militia that patrols the border, tells the Columbia Spectator that, yes, he's up for a repeat appearance. Last year, Gilchrist spoke at Columbia University, at the request of the Columbia College Republicans, only for a crazy, violent clash to occur when protesters stormed the stage. Students and Minutemen tussled (see video here), politicians and school officials frowned, and punishments......

Columbia University has agreed to let its financial aid office monitored for five years as well as pay $1.125 million to a national fund aimed at financial aid education for students and families in a settlement with the NY State Attorney General's office. In April, AG Andrew Cuomo revealed that financial aid officials at universities had recommended with one student loan organization, as the same officials held stock or other advisory positions at the loan......

If it's exam time, it must mean that kids are settling down and studying for finals. Or, if they are Columbia freshman, they just might be using a review sheet that essentially gives all the answers to a big exam. A few days ago, Columbia blog The Bwog broke news that a professor had given her students much of what would be on the Literature Humanities final in the form of a review sheet. Hilariously,......

The man police believe raped and tortured a Columbia graduate student last week for 19 hours was arrested last night. Police officers saw Robert Williams trying to break into a building in Hollis, Queens and was taken to the 103rd Precinct, where he was recognized from a police sketch released earlier this week. So far, Williams has only been charged with burglary but remains in custody as the Queens police sent him to Manhattan for......

The police have revealed that their suspect in the brutal 19-hour rape and torture of a 23-year-old Columbia journalism student is William Roberts, a 30-year-old man with a criminal history. According to WABC 7, Roberts has been charged with attempted murder twice - once in 1993, once in 1996 for shooting a man in the back. Last year, he was charged with assault as well as fare jumping. There was a false sighting of Roberts......

Yesterday, the NYPD released video of the man who raped and tortured a Columbia graduate student in her Hamilton Heights apartment for hours on Friday and Saturday. The assailant used her ATM card at a bodega on 141st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. A worker there told the News, "He's not human." The police also released a sketch of the attacker, who is described as a black man, around 180 pounds and 6'1", bald with......

Almost six months after a group of Columbia students rushed the stage when Minutemen Project leader Jim Gilchrist was speaking, the university has imposed sentences against the protesting students. The Columbia Spectator reports the students received "disciplinary warnings" which will be on their transcripts until the end of 2008. Monique Dols, a General Studies student who spoke to the media last fall, said, "It's a light punishment, it's a slap on the wrist. It's a......

Apparently, sexy Hollywood beefcake is what Columbia College is trying to promote at its Class Day this year! Last year, father-of-fellow-Columbia College-student Senator John McCain spoke, to wide protest. This year, Columbia College has selected Matthew Fox, star of Lost, to be the main speaker. Naturally, students are very divided about the news. One tells the Columbia Spectator, "I've never heard of this guy. The years before got a Pulitzer Prize-winner and a potential presidential......

Yesterday, a couple hundred Columbia students walked out to protest the war, and CTV News has video, and you'll see protesters chanting for troops to be removed as they march on and around campus (apparently there was free hot chocolate during the cold day). Interestingly, the Columbia College Democrats removed their support for the walk out "in part because of disagreements over whether to call for divestment," according to the NY Sun. However, there......

Columbia students and faculty walked out of classes to rally and march against the war in Iraq. In fact, the Columbia Coalition Against the War called the protest a "strike" and asked professors "to either cancel or allow students to miss class unpunished" so students would be able to participate, according to the Columbia Spectator. The group did request a police permit for 200 people, but expected up to 600 people. Many students support......

The death of the written word must be near, because City College wants to build a power plant inside its library. Via the Columbia Spectator, the school wants to build a 16,700 square foot power plant in the 20,722 square foot Morris Raphael Cohen Library - an 80% reduction of space. The power plant would be used to support two new science facilities, which begs the question, why couldn't they build the power plant in......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: car vs. building on 39th and Madison, pedestrian struck by car on 7th and W17th, and a jumper down on 14th Street. There was a crazy police shootout this morning in Park Slope-- an officer was shot in the neck, but is expected to recover. In a strange twist, the husband of another officer was detained as a suspect-- stay tuned for more info. In the last week, there......

In 2005, a Columbia graduate student in statistics emailed us, noticing "a mean 10.2 and a median 8.0 rats per night" on West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam. One solution was cats, another was rat snakes. But now it seems that the rats have moved to Columbia's campus. From the Columbia Spectator:Columbia College Student Council President Seth Flaxman, CC '07, sent an e-mail to Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin asking the administration to......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: "loose horses" in Queens, a stabbing in Soho, and a fatal person struck by train at 86th on the 4/5/6. No surprise: the richer a neighborhood is, the more landmarks get designated within it. Here's a pretty video of a Williamsburg Brooklyn Sunrise, from Youtube. Joseph Guzman, the survivor of the Sean Bell shooting in Queens, was released from the hospital today, nearly two months after the attack. Birds......

On Wednesday, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standard, which guides the Conservative Judaism movement, voted to allow gay rabbis and gay unions. While the move was hailed by some and denounced by others, the other mechanics of how this ruling will work. From the NY Times: But in a reflection of the divisions in the movement, the 25 rabbis on the law committee passed three conflicting legal opinions — one in favor of gay......