Hey, I can actually answer this with somewhat informed knowledge, and will try to be as unbiased as possible. I just graduated from Columbia and was in the same class as "Mattress Girl" Emma Sulkowicz. I also know the accused, Jean-Paul Nungesser, personally and have worked on projects and had classes with him.

"Mattress Girl" comes from the performance art piece that Sulkowicz performed in response to her alleged rape from Nungesser. Her piece, which was also controversially her senior thesis, was that she would carry a twin XL mattress around to symbolize her burden from being a survivor of sexual assault. Immediately, the media made this project blow up, and many college campuses took up a "carry that weight" campaign across the country (a few internationally) where people symbolically carried mattresses, pillows, etc. in solidarity. This of course, was an empowering symbol to the 1 in four women who are the victim of sexual assault during her academic career. Many people immediately took to Emma's side as well as Columbia's "No Red Tape" movement, which is a group of sexual assault response activists, who were very vocal and controversial, as their methods have been criticized by sexual assault survivors.

Nungesser, who studied abroad in Prague when this whole ordeal started blowing up, was radio silent, until a few pieces eventually emerged which talked with him, his parents, and eventually an infamous Daily Beast article by Cathy Young emerged which was seemingly damning to Sulkowicz's accusations, based on the facebook messages that Nungesser shared with The Daily Beast. Of course, this came under the scrutiny of feminists based on Cathy Young's history of writing against alleged rape victims and her pointed language against Sulkowicz and her misunderstanding of the behavior of rape survivors.

That was the beginning of a huge mess of he-said-she-said and people on both ends of the spectrum came out. MRAs who of course sided with Nungesser calling Sulkowicz a liar and radical feminists who side with Sulkowicz calling Nungesser an obvious rapist. To Sulkowicz's discredit, more messages have been released when Nungesser sued Columbia for defamation of character for allowing Sulkowicz's project to count as credit after he was found "not responsible" for her rape, while to Nungesser's discredit, this is not his first case of being accused for rape, but he was found not responsible for each case, though sometimes after an appeals process that has been described as difficult and triggering to rape survivors from an ill-equipped system to handle cases of this nature. Regardless, "mattress girl's" project helped spark a national discussion about college sexual assault and response to it. Senator Gillibrand has appeared with Sulkowicz as well as member of No Red Tape to call for reform in this field. Unfortunately, this conversation has been derailed by the he-said-she-said nature of the Sulkowicz-Nungesser case, and the only thing that has been talked about recently is whether or not Nungesser actually raped Sulkowicz. ([Statistically, Only about 2% of all rape and related sex charges are determined to be false, and only about 40% of rapes are ever reported to the police, and this is partly because victims know that if their claim becomes public, their every behavior will be scrutinized, they will be shamed for their sexual history, and they will be labeled as lunatic, psychotic, paranoid, and manipulative](only about 40% of rapes are ever reported to the police, and this is partly because victims know that if their claim becomes public, their every behavior will be scrutinized, they will be shamed for their sexual history, and they will be labeled as lunatic, psychotic, paranoid, and manipulative.)). However, there is a case that Sulkowicz should not be the face of the movement if she was not, in fact, assaulted. Sulkowicz has claimed that she is an artist above an activist as well. This all compounds with the botched Rolling Stone piece which gave MRA arguments some credibility, but, in my opinion, it is good that there is a growing conversation about it all.

During Graduation, Sulkowicz carried her mattress on stage, receiving some boos and a standing ovation from others, while mysteriously several posters emerged on campus that call her a "Pretty Little Liar".