NEW YORK, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Columbia University's Teachers College says one of its professors plagiarized the writings of a former colleague and two former students.
Madonna G. Constantine was found to have used others' work several times without attribution in papers she published in academic journals in the past five years, The New York Times reported Thursday. Constantine can appeal the findings, announced by college President Susan H. Fuhrman and Provost Thomas James following an 18-month investigation, the newspaper said.
Constantine sent an e-mail to faculty and students Wednesday, calling the investigation "biased and flawed," the Times reported. She claimed it was part of a "conspiracy and witch hunt by certain current and former members of the Teachers College community."
Constantine, who found a noose on her office door last fall, indicated she felt racism was a factor in her case.
"I am left to wonder whether a white faculty member would have been treated in such a publicly disrespectful and disparaging manner," wrote Constantine, who said she is one of two tenured black female full professors at the college.
