In April 2013, Emma Sulkowicz, an American fourth-year visual arts major at Columbia University in New York City, filed a complaint with Columbia University requesting expulsion of fellow fourth-year student and German national, Paul Nungesser, alleging he had raped Sulkowicz in her[a] dorm room on August 27, 2012.[1] Nungesser was found not responsible by a university inquiry.
In May 2014, Sulkowicz filed a report against Nungesser with the New York Police Department (NYPD), who did not pursue charges.[2][3] The district attorney's office interviewed both students, but did not pursue charges, citing lack of reasonable suspicion.[3] Sulkowicz declined to pursue criminal charges any further,[4][5] and stated that NYPD officers were dismissive and had mistreated her.[5][6]
After Columbia declined to take action against Nungesser, Sulkowicz produced a work of performance art entitled Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight) as a senior thesis, which involved Sulkowicz carrying a 50-pound dorm mattress on campus to represent the painful burden rape victims carry throughout daily life, and in protest of what Sulkowicz described as Columbia University's mishandling of the sexual assault complaint.[7] Nungesser called Sulkowicz's allegations untrue, citing as evidence behavior Nungesser said was counterintuitive, such as friendly texts Sulkowicz sent Nungesser days after the alleged attack occurred,[8] and described the mattress piece as an act of bullying intended to force him to leave Columbia.[4][9]
In April 2015, Nungesser filed a Title IX gender discrimination lawsuit against Columbia, its board of trustees, university president Lee Bollinger, and Sulkowicz's supervising art professor Jon Kessler, alleging that Columbia had facilitated gender-based harassment by allowing Sulkowicz to receive course credit for the performance.[3][10][11] Federal District Court Judge Gregory H. Woods dismissed the lawsuit[12] but allowed Nungesser to refile an amended suit,[12] which was settled by Columbia in July 2017.[13] In 2017, the university issued a statement acknowledging that Nungesser experienced a very difficult time, promised to keep its gender-based misconduct policies fair, and settled Nungesser's lawsuit under undisclosed terms.[14]
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