its a problem to have to second guess someone in a position of trust as that of a professor

Many were there to protest the racism at Columbia as such this wooman owes them no apology for whatever..

All minds regardless of color which seek to lure people to feed thier egos is wrong..Is that what you have done today Keith??

Thrasher... I know many protested against racism at Columbia.  And I'm also aware that all minds who seek to lure others to feed their egos REGARDLESS of color is wrong.  But I'm talking specifically about THIS event, THIS woman, and BLACK PEOPLE who bamboozle other blacks.  If you were there protesting, or have more insight into Professor Constantine, please share. I'm open.

It wouldn't surprise me if she did; Not because she's  Black but because she was able to see a way out of her plight, possibly THE only way...And if she DID plagiarise, well, she's just following in the shoes of the Great Black Man himself, Martin Luther King jr.

I refuse to call him Doctor because he doesn't deserve to have that title, as he plagiarised his Dissertatation.

would a noose really shut the mouth of someone, or create a diversion?  the noose thing is just too easy.  constantine had much more to gain from the noose than anyone else.  in fact, what would it have gotten anyone else?   racism at columbia, while often crude, is most often more subtle, intellegent and telling than someone hanging up a noose.

I think part of the problem is that modern University culture glorifies victimization and teaches students and professors to feel terribly oppressed - when the vast majority of University people (professors and college students) have never experienced serious victimization in their lives. A good example might be wealthy and priviledged Michelle Obama's college thesis wherein she dicusses the difficulty of convincing her equally-priviledged classmates to feel that they are members of an oppressed class of people when they have never experienced anything remotely resembling genuine oppression. There are places in the world where genuine and extreme oppression exists - Darfur, Burma, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, etc. The sufferings of these groups of people make anything that even the worst-off American experiences look like a walk in the park.

But Constantine needs to portray herself to others as victimized as she feels. Hence the suspicion that she manufactured the incident. There have been a lot of these types of incidents lately in academia. Notable incidents included fake anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Black and andti-Gay intimidations and attacks similar to the one that allegedly happened to Prof Constantine.  And as you rightly pointed out - they are extremely bad because they distract us from focusing on genuine cases of impression and racial intimidation which still happen in this country and around the globe.

It's time for Americans to declare the Global War on Oppression. Academic ivory tower narcissists like Prof Constantine are a distraction.

But surely, ZZim, you recognize that at the time Michelle Obama wrote her thesis, she wasn't "wealthy and privileged."  She was a scholarship student at Princeton.  She grew up in a  one bedroom flat on the South Side of Chicago.  Was her existence oppressive in the same manner as someone living in Darfur?  No.  But you surely recognize that she wasn't born in the lap luxury.  Furthermore, it makes little sense to judge Obama's current politics by what she wrote in her senior thesis when she was 22 years old.  I'm sure most of us (hopefully!) have grown by leaps and bounds from the people we were in college.

And pulling out the oppression yardstick doesn't work here either.  Telling a sick and hungry child in Detroit that there's a sicker, hungrier child in Afghanistan doesn't really do anything to change the material conditions of that kid's life.  He's still sick and hungry. But, then again, I am one of those victimhood-loving college professors, so it's possible I don't know what I'm talking about.

Keith,

My insight operates under the same foundation of your thoughts yet I have reached a different inference...You managed in my view to create a  false and unwarranted linkage between the noose incident and her termination  by the Columbia based upon allegations of plagiarism. The two events need not intersect nor have any connection in fact.

What also toubles me of late is the theme of Black pundits bending over backward to not give any value to the reality of racism...Sorry Keith but many of us do not roll like Jimi Izrael, Stanley Counch, Mike Wilborn et al and assume the worst about Black folks who dare to identify racism as the ROOT cause of thier adverse experience. Yes Imus is a bigot, Yes Obama trashed Black Fathers but will not go to a Moslem Mosque or Jewish Temple and trashed those fathers for thier pathologies..

Yes I understand it is easy to play Bill Cosby and the magic negro Obama role and question the claims of racism of today..

No I am not in denial about phony claims of racism and decay in our communities..

In closing your commentary was a cheap shot and if you want to make a statement about Black folks using race as an excuse for  thier personal shortcomings and incompetence then do that ..

Otherwise I am sick of black minds luring people into their racist games to feed their egos....

Thrasher.  Okay, I get it. You're sick of ego-driven game-players.  But I must admit: I'm a bit confused by your comments and particularly your tone.  I presented my opinion about what could be possible. I never said anything about Jimi Izrael or Stanley Crouch.  I'm certainly not assuming the entire black nation is monolithic in thought or experience. I was simply posting about an incident at Columbia where  a professor's alleged plagiarism and the hanging of  a noose seems... not so random.  Your other references about Obama and the alleged decay in the black community feels a bit out of context, but I'm assuming you're just frustrated in general.  But let me say this: at no time have I EVER said racism does not carry significant value in how blacks [and whites] navigate in this country. But I have a right as a citizen of the human race to second guess, have a different opinion, say nothing, say everything, say whatever is on my mind, poke, prod, discuss the complexities of a very complicated and complex people. Period.  If you feel I took a cheap shot, fine. That's how you feel.  But when I put finger to key with this post that is not what I intended.

Keith,

I acknowledge and respect your opinion with regard to your take on this event as well as your overall posture about having the right to have an opinon as a human being. I share that same premise with you.

Having stated the above I still would like to give Madonna her due process  and of course continue to ROOT out Columbia's racism...

Thrasher. Point taken.

"The noose could have been hung by someone hired by the university to shut close the mouth of a outspoken black academic. "

Yo, Keith, aren't you making a dangerous assumption here? The noose could have been hung by someone who merely hates Constantine, and took the opportunity to harass her.

If the University wanted to shut her up, they could have suspended her with or without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

I have been thinking the same thing. I want to wait until the entire investigation is over before making a conclusion. Thus far, that noose came after the charges of plagiarism and serious charges they were and not the first time!