Madonna Constantine, the woman fired from a tenured position at Columbia University’s Teachers College two years ago after the school found that Constantine had plagiarized material written by her colleagues and students, has lost a lawsuit she brought against Columbia following her dismissal. The Associated Press reports that Constantine:
…has lost one of her three lawsuits surrounding plagiarism accusations that got her fired.
A Manhattan judge’s ruling says Teachers College officials acted within their authority in dismissing Madonna Constantine. The Columbia University-affiliated college says she copied work from colleagues and students.
The judge’s ruling on the dismissed case was filed Tuesday.
Teachers College says all of Constantine’s suits are baseless.
Constantine actually has two more lawsuits pending. One is a $200 million New York State court definition case, the other is apparently a federal discrimination lawsuit.
In 2007 a noose was found (passive voice used deliberately) on the door of Constantine’s Teachers College office. The university enthusiastically supported Constantine and made efforts to address apparent racial problems on campus.
Constantine spoke to ABC News immediately after the noose incident, calling the incident “personal and degrading:”
But then it turned out that Columbia had actually been investigating Constantine for plagiarism since 2005. She was sanctioned by the university in February 2008, and dismissed in June, 2008. She does not appear to have found a new position yet.
“I would like the perpetrator to know I will not be silenced,” Constantine said after the noose incident. “I will not be silenced.” This was despite the fact that it didn’t really appear anyone would have any desire to silence Constantine, as her research was pretty uncontroversial.
Columbia never discovered who put the noose on Constantine’s door.
