Columbia University Student Will Drag Her Mattress Around Campus Until Her Rapist Is Gone

[G_j]

What a brave young woman!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/03/emma-sulkowicz-mattress-rape-columbia-university_n_5755612.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

By Sarah Barness
Posted: 09/03/2014

Emma Sulkowicz is a senior visual arts student at Columbia University. On the first day of her sophomore year, she says, she was raped by a classmate on her mattress.

"Rape can happen anywhere," she explains in the video above. "For me, I was raped in my own dorm bed. Since then, it has basically become fraught for me, and I feel like I've carried the weight of what happened there with me everywhere since then."

Sulkowicz' senior thesis, titled "Mattress Performance" or "Carry That Weight," is a literal expression of that emotional weight. In what she calls an endurance art piece, she will drag her mattress everywhere she goes on campus until her rapist is expelled or leaves. The project, she says, could extend for one day or for the entire remainder of her time at Columbia.

"The past year or so of my life has been really marked by telling people what happened in that most intimate private space and bringing it out into the light," she says. "So I think the act of carrying something that is normally found in our bedroom out into the light is supposed to mirror the way I've talked to the media and talked to different news channels, etc."

When Sulkowicz's case made it to a university hearing seven months after the actual incident occurred, administrators were confused about how anal rape could happen and she had to draw a diagram. The experience left her feeling physically ill.

Two other women came forward to say they had been assaulted by the same student, but all believe their cases were mishandled, in part by mistake-riddled record-keeping on the part of university authorities (note: aliases were used in early reporting on the case to protect the identity of those involved).



..more..

[JustAnotherGen]

1. She is amazing!

Good for her - get all up in the University's grill with that!

[yeoman6987]

2. Why didn't she go to the police?

So she is going to carry a mattress for two-years?

[liberalhistorian]

6. Sigh. Why am I NOT surprised

to find you on here blaming and shaming the victim and so totally missing the point altogether?

[KamaAina]

14. Why am I not surprised you have a Maryland avvie?

Oh, wait, I am. That's pretty low to sink for someone from my home state.

[stevenleser]

17. Jury results: 7-0 to keep

On Wed Sep 3, 2014, 02:59 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Why am I not surprised you have a Maryland avvie?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5484132

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Repulsive!

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Sep 3, 2014, 03:01 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: yeomans post was already hidden. I see no reason for this alert now.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Post to which this is a reply was hidden by jury. That says a lot regarding whether this one should be hidden.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: offs

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[Ash_F]

29. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

I was juror #5. I can't believe how out of touch people are. Do they not know how much intimidation is involved? Police have been really shitty to women who come to them. Why should this girl expect anything better?


Mail Message
On Wed Sep 3, 2014, 04:50 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

Sigh. Why am I NOT surprised
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5484048

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

A reasonable question was asked, the asker doesn't deserve to be assaulted for it.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Wed Sep 3, 2014, 04:56 PM, and the Jury voted 3-4 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: And the patriarchy strikes again, this time via alerting.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No it is NOT a reasonable question to ask. Are you crazy, alerter?
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: This comment to a legitimate question was uncalled for....

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[liberalhistorian]

38. Wow! That's one of the very, very few times in the more than eleven

years I've been here that I've had a post alerted on! I've been saying for a long while now (along with many others) that the misogyny here has been greatly increasing, with little action taken against it, and that those who try to call it out get alerted on while those who make such posts seem to be able to remain, along with their posts.

Look, I admit that I could have worded that post a little better but I would hardly consider it to be an "assault" and I certainly didn't intend it as such. It just floored me that THAT was the poster's reaction above all else, including the dismissive attitude regarding how long she was carrying the mattress. I'm glad to see that others called him out on it. And no, alerter and juror number 7, it was NOT a "legitimate" or "reasonable" question and there was a time on here when that would have been universally understood. I'm beginning to understand Redqueen's regrettable action and wish she would return.

[rhett o rick]

7. I see you have questions, do you have opinions? nm

[yeoman6987]

13. I actually do thank you

I think what she is going through is tragic and actually very typical of how colleges today deal with this. I ask why she didn't go th the police because again and again rapes have been swept under the rug or given a dog and pony show that for one I wished a victim would go full bore and go to the police station and get a real investigation. If a number of victims did this over and over again, perhaps colleges may start taking them seriously. And if not then the local police will continue to have to investigate. Something would happen if every Saturday or Sunday morning, police stations were inundated with rape victims. That to me is called taking real action.

[Dont call me Shirley]

22. Perhaps "real" courts are worse than the campus courts, duh!

[Ash_F]

31. It is unfortunate that you can't respond, but going to police is a nightmare for rape victims

My theory is that rape is about power. And many police have a power fetish.

You put two and two together.

[Brickbat]

37. "I ask why she didn't go th the police because again and again rapes have been swept under the rug

or given a dog and pony show that for one I wished a victim would go full bore and go to the police station and get a real investigation."

It's like you think the police wouldn't do this, too.

[G_j]

11. After Police Report, Columbia Spectator Publishes Name From Campus ‘Rape List’

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/05/columbia-spectator-prints-name-from-rape-list.html

"Sulkowicz is a prominent critic of the University's sexual assault policies. She is listed on the federal complaint against Columbia filed by students in April, and appeared with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a press conference about the issue. She also told the story of her own assault and what she felt was Columbia's clumsy response to it in a New York Times report on the incidents.

"After the New York Times article I had received so much criticism from people online that said, ‘Girls are dumb, this is exactly why girls should go to the police the minute they’re assaulted.’ I wanted to see if they were correct," Sulkowicz says. She characterizes her experience with the NYPD as "awful," and says she is in the process of filing a formal complaint with the city. "The officer basically treated me as if I was the criminal," she said. "After you've been physically violated the last thing you want is to have a policeman who is high on his own power telling you that everything you've just experienced is invalid." Sulkowicz says the assistant district attorney has contacted her about beginning an investigation, and she has been told police are currently looking for her alleged rapist, who she says is out of the country."

[pinboy3niner]

15. Beat me to it

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

30. Seems like there's a pattern emerging with police handling badly

almost any subject lately, they need much more training in the area of compassion and customer service and need to be reminded that they work for us and are employed by us.

[G_j]

32. I agree

& it just seems to get worse..

[leftstreet]

12. Why didn't the university call the police?

[name not needed]

34. It might look bad to prospective students. Gotta keep the money rolling in.

[Chan790]

35. Clery Act.

If they call the police, they have to report the alleged rape (or any type of violent crime) under the Clery Act to prospective students, current students and their parents. So...they don't call the police. If it's successfully adjudicated through on-campus channels, they still have to report it for Clery compliance.

If through on-campus adjudication, the claim is found to be "without merit" and dismissed...no Clery compliance action required. It's perverse but it's in the best interests of the university to adjudicate all claim on-campus and to f**k them up so that they can be dismissed and not reported under Clery.

[marions ghost]

42. Are you kidding

hush hush. Bad for business.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. She reported it to the proper university officials, like the police.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/5/19/why-college-rapevictimsdonatgotothepolice.html

She's also filed a Title IX claim against Columbia.

That's not good enough?

[Enthusiast]

27. I like the way you put that.

[Luminous Animal]

3. That is one brave young woman.

[mythology]

18. That is understating it in my opinion

To not just come forward, but to so obviously mark herself as a survivor.

It's a shame that her university lacks such courage, especially given that there are multiple official complaints about the same guy.

To many universities treat sexual assault like it's a joke. I'm glad the Justice Department is looking into that via Title IX at a number of colleges.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Their alleged attacker was found not responsible by the university, and remains at the school.

[Blue_Tires]

23. Sadly, the old adage applies:

College will expel you for unpaid bills before anything else...The only time rape technically "exists" on campus is when the victim is the daughter of someone very powerful that can make a lot of public noise...


At my alma mater about 10 years back, a moneyed, well-connected student was getting his ass kicked in a club from a fight that he started (with another student), so he runs out the front door, gets into his car, and while driving away pops off indiscriminate shots at the crowd coming out the front door, hitting a few bystanders and maiming for life the student he was fighting with...Dad was a local business bigwig, so he of course had a parade of character witnesses in court to testify what a great guy his son was...Shooter did 11 months before being paroled, and was even allowed to do his coursework in prison so he graduated on time...At no point was he ever even suspended by the college...The student he shot had to transfer...

[aggiesal]

25. It's known as AFFLUENZA n/t

[liberalhistorian]

5. I have the awful suspicion that the

administrators were not "confused" about how anal rape happened, they just wanted to humiliate this brave young woman even further; how can you be "confused" about anal rape? I cannot imagine having to undergo that kind of grilling at a hearing where the rapist is supposed to be on the hot seat and not the victim. Then again, this IS college "justice" we're talking about here. Gah.

[Orrex]

16. ^^That

[Orrex]

8. They'll probably suspend her for vandalizing university property

Namely, the mattress.


What a fucked up ordeal for her to have to endure.

[MineralMan]

10. I sincerely hope that this makes the administration

of that school change the way they handle sexual assault and rape cases.

Personally, I believe that all such cases should be in the hands of criminal prosecutors in the jurisdiction where the school is located. Many universities have proven themselves to be incapable of handling these cases properly.

[shireen]

20. i hope other students support her

by helping her carry that mattress around campus. The more the student community participates, the stronger the pressure to get rid of that pathetic freak.

[Dont call me Shirley]

21. You go girl! I'd help you carry that mattress if I could be there.

I'll help carry it in mind.

[Monk06]

44. She has as much credibility as the imaginary boyfriend phony gang rape girl. She is a careerist

who discovered very quickly that a bullshit story pushed hard enough with the right support could get you.............lemme see..... an invitation to the State of the Union address by a sitting congressman, your picture on the New York times and a glowing review of your art work by Jerry Saltz. This rape was in fact carefully planned....by her, her friends and her instructor who helped her cook up this whole thing.

Just go to College Confidential there are over forty pages of discussion about this case. The current assessment is she is a liar after her affectionate post rape emails to 'her' rapist, (she refers to him
), were published.

I have three art degrees and I saw this coming thirty years ago. I walked away and never pursued an art career because I knew a forty year old man was not going to get warm welcome in any University after 1990 when I graduated. Eventually no men while pursue a degree in humanities due to the gender hostility of women toward men.

To feminists, congratulations you won. I hope you enjoy talking to yourselves.

[Dont call me Shirley]

45. A hard push for the discreditation of rape industry. Ka-ching, ka-ching.

[Monk06]

46. She lied multiple times as demonstrated by her emails. She had a previous sexual

relationship with Nungesser where she engaged willingly in anal sex. She then tried to continue the relationship after the so called rape and mentioned anal sex as an enticement in those subsequent emails. While in the original complaint she implied that she did not want, enjoy or consent to anal sex.

She said she loved him and asked him about other girls he was dating.

She broke her confidentiality agreement with Columbia and claimed to the press that they asked her to contact Nungesser and talk over the 'rape' with him as a means of settling the matter. The university denies that as a matter of written policy. It never happened. They asked her during the investigation whether she had contacted him after the incident to establish a chronology of facts concerning the incident. They did not recommend that she contact him to settle the matter. So she lied about that.

She has shown a consistent pattern of lying, distortion of facts and demonstrable pattern of planning this incident since the summer of 2014. In fact she planned it over the phone with her senior art instructor Jon Kessler. That was three months before the launch of the project during the day of protest. Kessler is being sued for his part in the affair so she either duped him into going along with her planned shame campaign or he was a willing participant. He'll be lucky to come out of this with his job and reputation intact.

She discovered very quickly that this hoax would make her a celebrity, which it has. Since we live in a culture of celebrity where truth and talent don't matter she will translate this into a teaching job at a major university regardless of whether Nungesser wins his lawsuit and she is discredited.

An to top it off you are eliding Rape Culture with and into the Rape Industry. Is that the next misanderist thought bubble to be forwarded as fact by the Feminist Industry?

Women are fast reaching the point where men, even sympathetic men will no longer engage women unless it is an absolute requirement of their employment and then only in the most guarded circumstances.

If you were a woman and valued the friendship and companionship of men, ask yourself whether you would consider the world a better place if rigid gender apartheid was the prevailing social order. And then ask yourself if that would make you a happier and better person.

[Marr]

24. I don't understand how criminal accusations like this can be handled by some university panel, and

a Dean given the authority to summarily dismiss the charges. This should go straight to the actual police and the courts.

[Jamastiene]

26. Too bad she can't make her rapist carry the mattress around

as a punishment. She is right though. That is what rape victims feel. It is not a crime that happens and then is over, for the victim. We carry that shit with us the rest of our lives. It's horrible.

[Enthusiast]

28. Kicked and recommended!

Thank you, G_j.

[AuntPatsy]

33. Kicking

[red dog 1]

36. K&R...Thanks for posting

Emma Sulkowicz is my new hero (heroine?)

[Nye Bevan]

39. All rape allegations should be handled by the police.

Universities are about as effective as investigating rape allegations as police departments would be at teaching liberal arts.

[G_j]

40. She characterizes her experience with the NYPD as "awful"

"After the New York Times article I had received so much criticism from people online that said, ‘Girls are dumb, this is exactly why girls should go to the police the minute they’re assaulted.’ I wanted to see if they were correct," Sulkowicz says. She characterizes her experience with the NYPD as "awful," and says she is in the process of filing a formal complaint with the city. "The officer basically treated me as if I was the criminal," she said. "After you've been physically violated the last thing you want is to have a policeman who is high on his own power telling you that everything you've just experienced is invalid." Sulkowicz says the assistant district attorney has contacted her about beginning an investigation, and she has been told police are currently looking for her alleged rapist, who she says is out of the country."

[Agschmid]

41. Kick!

[marions ghost]

43. People don't realize

how vulnerable students are to rape. Especially at the change of semester when lots of moving in and out is going on and doors are left unlocked. The freedom of living on campus is often abused. It's really a big problem.