The Volokh Conspiracy - Now <i>This</i> Looks Like a Serious Plagiarism Controversy:

The Columbia Spectator reports:

Embattled Teachers College Professor Madonna Constantine denied charges of plagiarism Wednesday and announced plans to fight sanctions imposed by the TC administration, a day after a memo detailing the allegations became public....

"This investigation, along with other incidents that have happened to me at Teachers College in recent months, point to a conspiracy and witch-hunt by certain current and former members of the Teachers College community," [Constantine responded].

"I am left to wonder whether a White faculty member would have been treated in such a publicly disrespectful and disparaging manner," she added.

The allegations of racism drew strong rebuttals from a TC spokesperson, who called the notion that TC is racist "absolutely absurd and untrue" because the school has "zero tolerance for racism."

On Monday, TC hand-delivered to faculty members a memo reporting that a year-and-a-half-long investigation by an outside law firm had found that Constantine had stolen the work of one former colleague and two former students, and that the school would sanction her for the plagiarism.

The investigation concluded that Constantine's "explanation for the strikingly similar language was not credible," according to a TC statement issued later on Tuesday....

TC and Constantine first entered the spotlight when a noose was found on Constantine's office door in early October in a still-unsolved hate crime that drew national media attention.... [T]he official investigation was in the works years before the noose incident.

Former TC professor Christine Yeh, who now teaches at the University of San Francisco, was one of three former colleagues and students identified by TC as having formally accused Constantine of plagiarism. Yeh said she gradually became concerned about Constantine's research over the course of a decade of working in the same department.

"It was a few years ago when it came to my attention and I started to actually read what she had published, my work ... it wasn't until later that I was told that students had come forward saying they'd had work stolen as well," Yeh said....

Despite the allegations now facing Constantine, her attorney Paul Giacomo said that in fact it was Constantine who was plagiarized by her accusers and not the other way around. The investigation was not neutral, he said, because TC did not grant legal indemnity — protection against potential liability — to his client, though the school did to Yeh and former students Tracy Juliao and Karen Cort, who were also officially identified as complainants. [Constanine had apparently threatened to sue Yeh over Yeh's allegations. -EV] Juliao said in a phone interview with Spectator she had noted specific publications by Constantine that reproduce verbatim portions of Juliao's dissertation.

Giacomo said he has evidence from "independent third parties, who have no ax to grind" showing Constantine's authorship of 36 explicit passages, evidence which he allegedly collected after Constantine was asked to resign last spring. The fact that the evidence was ignored, he said, showed that the investigation was conducted with a "predetermined conclusion." ...

The New York Times City Room blog also reports on this, as do other New York newspapers. If anyone can point me to more details on the controversy, I'd love to hear about it.

	[Eugene Volokh, February 21, 2008 at 10:32am] Trackbacks Now This Looks Like a Serious Plagiarism Controversy: The Columbia Spectator reports: Embattled Teachers College Professor Madonna Constantine denied charges of plagiarism Wednesday and announced plans to fight sanctions imposed by the TC administration, a day after a memo detailing the allegations became public.... "This investigation, along with other incidents that have happened to me at Teachers College in recent months, point to a conspiracy and witch-hunt by certain current and former members of the Teachers College community," [Constantine responded]. "I am left to wonder whether a White faculty member would have been treated in such a publicly disrespectful and disparaging manner," she added. The allegations of racism drew strong rebuttals from a TC spokesperson, who called the notion that TC is racist "absolutely absurd and untrue" because the school has "zero tolerance for racism." On Monday, TC hand-delivered to faculty members a memo reporting that a year-and-a-half-long investigation by an outside law firm had found that Constantine had stolen the work of one former colleague and two former students, and that the school would sanction her for the plagiarism. The investigation concluded that Constantine's "explanation for the strikingly similar language was not credible," according to a TC statement issued later on Tuesday.... TC and Constantine first entered the spotlight when a noose was found on Constantine's office door in early October in a still-unsolved hate crime that drew national media attention.... [T]he official investigation was in the works years before the noose incident. Former TC professor Christine Yeh, who now teaches at the University of San Francisco, was one of three former colleagues and students identified by TC as having formally accused Constantine of plagiarism. Yeh said she gradually became concerned about Constantine's research over the course of a decade of working in the same department. "It was a few years ago when it came to my attention and I started to actually read what she had published, my work ... it wasn't until later that I was told that students had come forward saying they'd had work stolen as well," Yeh said.... Despite the allegations now facing Constantine, her attorney Paul Giacomo said that in fact it was Constantine who was plagiarized by her accusers and not the other way around. The investigation was not neutral, he said, because TC did not grant legal indemnity — protection against potential liability — to his client, though the school did to Yeh and former students Tracy Juliao and Karen Cort, who were also officially identified as complainants. [Constanine had apparently threatened to sue Yeh over Yeh's allegations. -EV] Juliao said in a phone interview with Spectator she had noted specific publications by Constantine that reproduce verbatim portions of Juliao's dissertation. Giacomo said he has evidence from "independent third parties, who have no ax to grind" showing Constantine's authorship of 36 explicit passages, evidence which he allegedly collected after Constantine was asked to resign last spring. The fact that the evidence was ignored, he said, showed that the investigation was conducted with a "predetermined conclusion." ... The New York Times City Room blog also reports on this, as do other New York newspapers. If anyone can point me to more details on the controversy, I'd love to hear about it.