The case of a Columbia University professor who reported last fall finding a noose outside her office door has taken an odd turn. The professor, Madonna G. Constantine, has been reprimanded for two dozen instances of plagiarism, according to a spokeswoman for the university.

That news was first reported by the university’s student paper, The Columbia Spectator, which obtained a copy of a memorandum informing faculty members of the findings. The university is not revealing what punishment Ms. Constantine, who is a professor of psychology and education in the Teachers College, will face — only that it falls short of dismissal. The university spokeswoman, Marcia Horowitz, also declined to release examples of the alleged plagiarism.

In October, Ms. Constantine, who is African-American, said she had found a noose dangling outside the door of her office at Columbia. The New York Police Department’s hate-crime task force told the Spectator in January that it still had no suspects in the incident.

When asked for comment today on the plagiarism charges, Ms. Constantine sent a 475-word written statement in which she questions the neutrality of the investigation and calls the administration’s memo “premature, vindictive, and mean-spirited.” She also contends that there has been “a conspiracy and a witch-hunt” by people, whom she does not name, in the Teachers College. Ms. Constantine writes that she plans to appeal the findings of the investigation.

The investigation into the plagiarism accusations was conducted by a law firm, Hughes Hubbard and Reed, and began in 2006. Ms. Constantine had been aware of the investigation, according to Ms. Horowitz. The spokeswoman called allegations of a conspiracy against Ms. Constantine “absurd.” —Thomas Bartlett