Activist Emma Sulkowicz Carries Her Mattress to Columbia University Graduation
Emma Sulkowicz graduating today at Columbia University. (Photo: Kerry Sulkowicz)
Student activist Emma Sulkowicz made headlines last fall, pledging to carry her mattress around Columbia University’s campus until the administration expelled her alleged rapist, Paul Nungesser. That didn’t happen.
Tuesday, both students were scheduled to graduate. So Sulkowicz, with the help of her friends, carried her mattress in the processional, continuing her protest. According to The Columbia Daily Spectator, the school’s administration emailed seniors on Monday saying, “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.” Sulkowicz disregarded this warning and brought her mattress on stage. According to a tweet from Teo Armus, the Deputy News Editor at the Columbia Spectator, “Emma Sulkowicz did not shake hands with President Lee Bollinger when she went on stage.”
.@Sejal_Singh_, @ZoeRidolfiStarr & 2 others helped Emma Sulkowicz carry her mattress across stage at #ccclassday2015 pic.twitter.com/pEOqQviD0N
— Teo Armus (@teoarmus)
May 19, 2015
The act of carrying her mattress is part of a performance art piece for Sulkowicz’ senior thesis called “Carry That Weight,” a reference to the burden she feels she’s been carrying since the incident two years ago. Seven months after her alleged attack, Sulkowicz and two other women filed a report with Columbia stating that Nungesser sexually assaulted them separately. He was not expelled or disciplined by the college. “The University closed the case in November of my junior year saying he is not responsible for any of our rapes,” Sulkowicz told Yahoo Beauty in an interview from the fall.
The district attorney’s office investigated the case in 2013. Sulkowicz has publicly stated that she decided not to pursue the case in court. However, recent court documents filed by Nungesser state that the DA’s office decided not to pursue criminal charges, citing “lack of reasonable suspicion.”
Feeling defeated, the visual arts major looked for a new way to battle the injustice, and began The Mattress Project in the fall of 2014. Columbia University officials have yet to respond to her protest. “It’s given me a voice, but what is the use of a voice when the ears you’re speaking to are completely shut?” she told Yahoo Beauty. “I realize that the university is extremely stubborn and they may never move a muscle.” Sulkowicz hoped that her protest would lead to a change in policy — and action — at Columbia. “I want them to reopen cases where students have been mistreated via the Title IX Act. I also want them to release the data of just how many rapists were found responsible on campus last year,” she said.
Emma crossing the stage at her Columbia University. (Photo: Jared Odessky )