The former Teachers College of Columbia University professor who found a noose on her office door wants $200 million from her ex-employer, saying the school killed her career.

Madonna Constantine has filed the mega-lawsuit with the New York State Supreme Court after she was fired following the release of findings that she allegedly plagiarized research.

Constantine was accused of stealing large amounts of other published writings and claiming them as her own. After an 18-month investigation, the school went public with its findings of “numerous instances” when Constantine reportedly used non-cited research “in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years.” She was suspended after the February 2008 announcement and fired in June.

In late 2007, while the investigation was underway, Constantine reported the noose – a symbol of lynching – and wrote an e-mail to students that stated: “As one of only two tenured Black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted.”

With the publicizing of the plagiarism investigation’s results, the former educator says her reputation was severely damaged. Constantine’s attorney denies that his client plagiarized her work.