This afternoon, Teachers College students received an email from the offices of President Susan Furman and Provost Tom James announcing that "earlier today, several faculty members received envelopes containing hate mail."

"We have alerted the Hate Crimes Unit of the New York City Police Department," the email continues, "which is still investigating the October 2007 hate crime incidents.We anticipate that the New York City Police Department will be at Teachers College to investigate this matter. We encourage all members of the community to cooperate fully." Full email after the jump.

Although the list-topper for Vh1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons needs no further accolades, your university casually handed over a Klingenstein Leadership Award to Oprah Winfrey last week in Chicago.

The Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership, a Teachers College entity, recognized Oprah for her work towards improving education. The award specifically cites Oprah's Book Club, and the two-year-old Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls, a posh boarding school in Johannesburg, South Africa. Also singled out for funding scholarships and new schools were three separate Winfrey-driven philanthropies: The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program, and Oprah's Angel Network.

Teachers College to save the Dominican Republic.

It's an art house with an uncertain future.

Do you remember CPR from your sixth-grade babysitting course?

Turn off your TV for two minutes today -- thankfully Gossip Girl airs Mondays.

Spec's rainy day political laundry list.

The trek to the Gottesman Library at Teacher's College was arduous, and TC itself a seemingly impenetrable maze. Initially arriving at the wrong entrance, Bwog stood for several moments at an automatic door that refused to open. The bells at Riverside Church chimed ominously. Bwog eventually sheepishly located the entrance to the building, perhaps 15 feet to our left.

Bwog's Teachers College tipster has forwarded us an email saying that on October 21st Obama and McCain's education advisors will debate over "Education and the Next President" at Teachers College and will be moderated by TC President Susan Fuhrman.

Don't expect any heartbreaking lotteries this time: only TC faculty, students and staff are allowed. But Bwog is hopeful that there will be alternative viewing arrangements for the rest of us. Stay tuned, we will update as more information comes in. Until then, the full email is after the jump.

Good morning, Columbia, hope you're all set for some more Madonna Constantine updates. Oh good, let's get started. First, according to last night's AP report, Constantine has decided to appeal her termination, claiming that she was fired because of the noose incident and that the plagiarism charges are "baseless."

And speaking of nooses, it's finally time for the Village Voice's sequel to its exciting series on "Knotty Noose Problems". When we last left off, a bunch of people accussed Madonna Constantine of plagiarism, so she made one of them organize some stuff in her office over winter break, which was mean. Meanwhile, Darlene Bailey, VP of Academic Affairs at TC, launched counter-investigations against a women who wanted to look into the allegations against Constantine.

So now that we're all caught up, on to this week's article, and we've once again distilled everything you need to know in reader-friendly bulletpoints.

Today, the Village Voice ran the first part of a billion part article that's something like the definitive account of everything that happened surrounding Madonna Constantine. You might recall October's noose-hanging incident and the whole multiple charges of plagiarism thing, for example. Anyway, we've distilled everything that's new and important in the article in easy-to-digest bullet points below (Spoiler Alert: She plagiarized.)

• "As many as 10 people complained about Constantine over several years, and these sources say the college did little to intervene."
• "Constantine attempted to silence her accusers in the spring of 2007 by sending them letters threatening to sue unless they dropped their claims. She used college stationery and the college mailing account."
• "Despite [former student Karen Cort's] accusation [of plagiarism], Constantine never pursued official sanctions. Instead, as punishment, she ordered Cort to cancel plans for the January break and come to her office. Constantine had her mark each book in her office with the professor's stamp. The shelves in the office held hundreds of books. The job took several days to complete."
• This particular plagiarized text was a second-year research paper written by the aforementioned former student, Karen Cort. Constantine told Cort to list Constantine's name as the primary researcher, despite Cort actually writing and researching the paper. For whatever reason, Cort agreed.
  
  (Read more...)

Boo dearth of housing for GS kids. Hooray Manhattanville!

Boo hateful speech on Juicy Campus. Hooray censorship!

Boo unclear CUIT back up policies. Hooray transparency on the Information Super Highway!

Boo rigid Physics major requirements. Hooray to superficial study of sciences through opinion columns!

Boo plagiarism scandal. Hooray record donation?!

Well Teacher's College, maybe November will see better days.

CU wants u 2 b safe.

What does "wadding up" mean?

Columbia Spectator is one-sided, ignores "kill whitey."

The core is useful beyond just cocktail parties.

Peter Gordon probably isn't travelling to West Virginia any time soon. While being interviewed about his research on the Piraha, a tribe in the Amazon, for The New Yorker, the Teachers College Speech and Pathology prof made an unfortunate reference to one of America's most persistent regional stereotypes. "If there is some kind of Appalachian inbreeding or retardation going on," he said, defending the tribe from such charges, "you'd see it in hairlines, facial features, motor ability. It bleeds all over. They [the Piraha] don't show any of that."

Now, Gordon is under fire, and Columbia has been targeted as well. "The quote splattered against academic computer screens in Appalachia this week like a large cud of chewing tobacco," wrote the Lexington Herald-Leader (we're not quite sure if they were trying to be ironic or not). A professor at Daemen College had this to say to Gordon: "Shame on you and on the institution you represent for perpetuating such ugly and untrue stereotypes". Ohio University prof Jack Wright compared the gaffe to "cultural strip-mining".

For his part, Gordon has apologized, and called the experience "humbling". After receiving complaints, Provost Brinkley said that he disagreed with Gordon's sentiments, but that the prof would not be censored.

-CJS

Girls discuss sexist ageism, M. Cheney talks about forthcoming bundle of joy (Today's New York Times has great coverage of the fem-fest here)

Prez Bo: Columbia has a new...wife?

There are five gazillion books in Butler (Could it be more impressive than the iPhone?)

Staff to Columbia, re: M'ville: Please don't embarrass yourself again

A student who hasn't liked his many-an-internship

Bwog tipster John Shekitka sends in the following news about what they're really learning over at Teacher's College.

I was in Horace Mann last night, a building at Teacher's College, and noticed their monthly newsletter entitled 'The Stall Street Journal." I kid you not; this a newspaper that is affixed to the back of the stall door in the bathroom so that you can read it while you are on the toilet. It has interview and resume tips. The best part, though, has to be the tagline that reads "getting information out to students in any way we CAN"—emphasis theirs. Last month, I thought it was a joke, but they've already come out with the October issue.

Something tells Bwog that this publication will be FLUSH with helpful information. Eh? Eh? No? Ok.

Most Columbia students remember gym class as a pre-pubescent nightmare characterized by itchy uniforms, bloody noses, changing in public, and balls flying into their groins. Steve Silverman says it doesn't have to be that way. Silverman runs the physical education program at Teacher's College (making him a gym teacher who teaches gym teachers how to teach gym) and studies PE for a living. Bwog sat down with the man behind the progressive curriculum last week to get his thoughts on dodgeball, Title 9, and lazy kids.

So why did you decide to become a gym teacher?

Well, I like to think of it as a physical educator more than a gym teacher...

Oh, ok, sorry...

I was interested in helping children learn about physical education in a way that would make them feel efficacious about movement. Children will only move and participate in physical activity if they're liking it.

Gym class at my school never motivated me.

Isn't that sad?

So how do you get kids to like PE and to keep in shape?

Well, that's the key question isn't it! A lot of the traditional methods that people have experienced are not the way. Children have to be in situations where they learn motor skills. Traditionally we've tailored PE to children who are higher skilled. For low skilled children in particular, the concentration on traditional sports does more to turn them off to physical education than it does to promote physical activity.