Madeleine Cosman

Madeleine Pelner Cosman (December 4, 1937 – March 2, 2006) was an academic writer-researcher, policy analyst and advocate. She long held faculty membership at City College of New York.

As a medical lawyer, educator and healthcare policy guru, she testified before Congress, wrote 15 books and buttressed politicians' arguments against mass immigration. J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (1995) Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Columbia University (1964) M.A. in Comparative Literature from Hunter College (1960) B.A. from Barnard College (1959)

Cosman was a professor in the Department of English at City College of New York from 1964 until her retirement in 1993. She was a member of the New York Academy of Medicine and a Professor of Medical Law.

Medieval and Renaissance studies In 1968, Cosman became founding director of the City College of New York Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, which granted undergraduate and graduate degrees. From the 1970s she helped organize the Renaissance Fair at The Cloisters. She was also a scholar of medieval medicine. "Known for an engaging speaking style that illuminated her legal savvy, Cosman was a favorite guest on talk radio."

Criticism

Critics have objected that many of her controversial claims on immigration and medicine are untrue. A reporter on Lou Dobbs' CNN program had cited as facts Cosman's claims that there were, over three years, 7000 cases of leprosy in the United States and that many of them were the result of illegal immigrants bringing the disease into the country, when the statistics show the number was for a 30-year period and shows no correlation to immigration. Dobbs has since rejected the claims as unsubstantiated.

Cosman was also accused of anti-Mexican bias. For example, railing against criminals from the immigrant community, she made the following ominous warning: "Recognize that most of these bastards molest girls under age twelve, some as young as age five, others age three. Although, of course, some specialize in boys, some specialize in nuns, some are exceedingly versatile and rape little girls age eleven and women up to age seventy-nine."

Death Cosman died in Escondido, California. The cause was complications of scleroderma, a chronic disease of the connective tissue.