'Double Secret Probation' for Plagiarizing Teacher

To wit, Teachers College revealed last week that an 18-month investigation has determined that Professor Madonna Constantine had lifted the work of a colleague and several students.

Now, plagiarism is a firing offense at Morningside Heights, right? Amazingly, no. Teachers announced that it had merely imposed secret "serious sanctions" against Constantine.

If her name seems familiar, it should. She's the prof upon whose door last fall was found a four-foot noose; the discovery sparked a national uproar, and the case remains unresolved.

The noose and plagiarism charge - which Constantine denies - are related, she said: They are proof of "structural racism" at Teachers College.

That's absurd, notes department Chairwoman Suniya Luthar: "The students who came with the complaints - most . . . are ethnic minorities, and a number of them are African-American."

As for the noose - well, let's just say that the police probe is ongoing.