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July 10, 2008, 08:04 AM ET
Madonna Constantine ... Anyone Have the Whole Story?
A Getty Images photo of Constantine at the New York magazine site
Since I’ve been on the road (and out of the country), I am still trying to find time to get to the bottom of the Madonna Constantine story. Some of the important facts seem hard to come by.
If you don’t remember, she’s the tenured Teachers College professor who found a noose hanging from her office door this past academic year, an event that seemed to spawn a string of copycat “hate” acts at that university and even some others (if I’m not mistaken).
We subsequently found out that the school had been quietly investigating accusations of plagiarism against her by a student and professional colleague. The blogosphere/media collectively pondered whether she had staged the racist act to paint herself as victim instead of perpetrator.
At the end of this past semester, noose hangings or not, Columbia University fired MC from her post based on that aforementioned investigation, even though Constantine claims to have evidence exonerating her on all charges.
I haven’t seen any of the writings in question, but I did get a chance to read last week’s Village Voice piece on her (thanks to a Brainstorm blog reader who hipped me to the article). That same reader just sent me a link to this week’s follow-up story, which I haven’t been able to open on my bberry. (I hope to get to a real computer by this weekend.)
That anonymous blog reader wonders aloud (in print) about why no black academics seem to be addressing the firing of a tenured black woman at an Ivy League school. I do want to write about this more, and I agree that it is important to take this story seriously.
I do have a question, though. Has anyone published excerpts from the contested writings — or even citations — so that people can read the disputed pieces themselves? If anyone has some of that info, can you send it along?
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