Columbia Will Give NY Cops Noose Tape

School flip-flops on surveillance in hate-crime case
By Will McCahill,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 11, 2007 8:57 PM CDT
Columbia Will Give NY Cops Noose Tape
Teachers College students Valerie Camille Jones, left, and Nicole Le Blanc attend a protest rally at Columbia University, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, in New York. Authorities on Wednesday were looking into whether a noose hanging from the door of a black professor at Columbia University was the work of...   (Associated Press)

After holding out for more than a day, Columbia University will give New York police surveillance video that could yield clues on who left a noose on a professor's door, the New York Daily News reports. The school had told police—investigating what they're calling a hate crime against Professor Madonna Constantine—they would need a subpoena to get the tapes.

"It's unfortunate because it adds a time-consuming step to the investigation," an NYPD official told the News. Columbia colleagues found the noose—a symbol of racist lynchings in the South—on Constantine's door Tuesday. Constantine teaches race relations at the Ivy League school; police say they don't yet have suspects. Columbia also agreed to turn over names of students in Constantine's classes. (More race relations stories.)

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