Columbia University Student Carries Mattress To Graduation To Protest Campus Rape

Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz created a national media stir last year when she began carrying a mattress all over campus in protest of the school’s failure to adequately handle her sexual assault by a fellow student.

Sulkowicz vowed that she would not put down the mattress until the school expelled her alleged rapist, and proceeded to lug around the 50-pound mattress as part of her visual arts thesis, “Carry That Weight.”

Then, on Tuesday, the tenacious senior graduated from Columbia University with the symbolic mattress in tow, despite the college initially banning large objects from the ceremony.

“Graduates should not bring into the ceremonial area large objects which could interfere with the proceedings or create discomfort to others in close, crowded spaces shared by thousands of people,” read an email that was sent to the graduating class. This email was reportedly not sent out in previous years.

However, the school had an apparent change of heart, as during the ceremony, Sulkowicz walked across the stage carrying the mattress with the help of several friends and the sound of cheers and applause in the background.

Last December, Sulkowicz had pretty much promised to bring the mattress to graduation when she spoke with New York Times art critic Roberta Smith — and mused over possibly dropping the mattress at the feet of Columbia University’s president, Lee Bollinger, when asked how her “Carry That Weight” project would end.

At the ceremony, though, Sulkowicz did not drop the mattress at Bollinger’s feet, but she did choose not to shake his hand as she made her way across the stage.

Emma Sulkowicz did not shake hands with President Lee Bollinger when she went on stage at #ccclassday2015pic.twitter.com/y7bbKj3iCp

— Teo Armus (@teoarmus) May 19, 2015

According to the Daily Beast, Sulkowicz reported that she was raped by another Columbia student during her sophomore year in August, 2012. Then in April of the following year, she filed a complaint against her attacker with campus authorities, but her alleged attacker was found “not responsible” by the university in October and was never charged, despite him also being accused of assault by two other female students.

“The past year of my life has been really marked by telling people what happened in that most intimate and private space,” Sulkowicz told the Spectator in September. “I was raped in my own dorm bed and since then, that space has become fraught for me. I feel like I’ve carried the weight of what happened there since then.”

Sulkowicz subsequently lodged a complaint to the New York Police Department in the spring of 2014. However, this also resulted in no charges. She also filed a Title IX complaint against Columbia University with the U.S. Department of Education that same spring.

Paul Nungesser, the accused assailant, is currently suing the university for supposedly allowing Sulkowicz to defame and harass him. Claiming that the complaint “damaged, if not effectively destroyed,” his reputation.

#ccclassday pic.twitter.com/hY9yBUgIux

— Teo Armus (@teoarmus) May 19, 2015

There are currently over 100 schools, including Columbia, that are under federal investigation due to their handling of rape cases.

[Image: Andrew Burton / Getty Images]