Columbia U. decries hangman's noose found on black professor's door

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Columbia University planned a town hall meeting Wednesday for faculty and students to discuss the discovery of a hangman's noose on a black professor's office door, an incident which the university's president described as an assault on the entire university. Police are investigating the incident, which was discovered Tuesday night, as a hate crime. The noose, an echo of other recent incidents involving the symbol reviled by many for its association with the lynchings of the Old South, was hung up on the door of a professor at the university's Teacher's College. "This is an assault on African Americans and therefore it is an assault on every one of us. I know I speak on behalf of every member of our communities in condemning this horrible action," Columbia President Lee Bollinger said Tuesday. Columbia did not immediately say which professor was targeted, but she was identified in the local media as Madonna Constantine, a professor of psychology and education and author of a book entitled "Addressing Racism: Facilitating Cultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings."