Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz, 21, says she was raped in her own bed at the beginning of her sophomore year. This week, two years after the alleged assault, Sulkowicz, a visual-arts major, has made a promise to carry her mattress around campus every day as part of her senior thesis. It is, she says, a symbol of the burden sexual-assault survivors carry with them every day.

“The act of carrying the mattress from inside my room out into the light has mirrored the way my life has changed, as I’ve brought my personal story out into the light,” Sulkowicz told TIME. “This project is a way to heal one of the most difficult things that happened to me. As I will build muscle and get stronger, hopefully I will also build emotional strength.”

Sulkowicz started the performance-art project on Tuesday, and she said she is determined to continue carrying the mattress wherever she goes — to class, the library, the gym — as long as her alleged rapist is still on campus. That means her project could last until graduation day in May 2015 — unless her alleged assailant is either expelled or chooses to leave the school. Last year, Sulkowicz and two other women reported the same person to the university. All three cases were dismissed.

top 100 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [S] 344 points 1 month ago (19 children)

The president of Columbia at the time refused to shake her hand when she crossed the stage at graduation.

  • source
  • hideshow 19 child comments
  • [–] 67 points 1 month ago (9 children)

    I'm sure Socrates and Plato turning over in their graves looking at MBAs running educational institutions.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

    Probably should have picked two philosophers who didn't have significant portions of their works dedicated to defending slavery and the literal Greek patriarchy.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [+] -16 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    Slavery then was very different from the horrors that are chattel slavery. From my reading Socrates and Plato both reject the Greek patriarchy, but if you have writings of Plato's that shows otherwise I'd love to see them.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [+] -38 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

    You're a trash person who doesn't know what he's talking about, and even if you were right, you'd still be a garbage heap for thinking "but it wasn't about race" or "but their children wouldn't always be slaves as well, unless of course they fell into debt while their slave parents died in the mines" is a defense.

    Just straight up LMAO at them not defending Greek patriarchy btw.

    Shit, you ignorant fucking ape, they had chattel slavery too, and what the Spartans did to their helot class was as bad or worse than anything the South did.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Woah buddy everything is alright man. Take a chill pill.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    You triggered them, sure.

    You're gonna address the point they made though? How they had chattel slaves AND the alternative ancient slave systems you defended are literally worse?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago

    No, they were right and I was wrong. Socrates and Plato had ideas different that typical Greek life, but they were still far from ideal by today's standards. It is something that I had to do more research on and I'm grateful for that.

    That guy is a real fuck though, and can eat a whole cactus.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago*

    How about you know one goddamn thing about ancient slavery systems before you defend it based on shit you've seen fascist adjacent redditors who unironically want to bring those systems back say and then I'll chill?

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 33 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    Did she carry the mattress on stage?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] [S] 64 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    Yes. He hadn't been expelled at that point.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] -8 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    So, not sure how a handshake could have been possible.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 247 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    All she had to do was trick him into saying ‘Free Palestine’ and Columbia not only would have expelled him but they would also ensure he never got a job in any top firm

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 63 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    As the linked article didn't include any photos of what was being discussed...

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 171 points 1 month ago (16 children)

    God, the internet was fucking horrible when this happened. I remember constant comments about how she was lying for attention or just regretted it. Pre-MeToo era was a hellhole.

  • source
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [–] [S] 119 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    Oh don't worry, the internet is continuing to be horrible about this and the Cornell rape. It never really went away unfortunately and we're in the middle of a huge misogyny resurgence.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 26 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Absolutely the shitheads are still here and being loud, but to me the overall culture has shifted enough that they’re at least recognized as shitheads and not just treated as a normal opinion that some men have. I’m sure that’s not the case everywhere, but that’s been how it’s shifted in the past 10-15 years where I’ve seen.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] [S] 41 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Yeah where I am in the US, we literally elected a rapist as president. The misogyny hasn't really shifted much from my perspective after Me Too. Like....there's more lip service paid to it, but like with the Cornell situation, there's still no real consequences for most rapists and younger generations are demonstrably more misogynistic.

    I get where you're coming from and you're probably right that some of the general sentiments have shifted enough that we can talk about these things more openly, but overall not much has changed.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    younger generations are demonstrably more misogynistic.

    I just really have to disagree here. Growing up in the 90s, blatant misogyny was utterly pervasive throughout our culture. Now raising a son, sometimes 90s (or earlier) media comes on and the sexist tropes make me cringe.

    While the internet has enabled a loud subgroup of misogynists to organize, the culture among young people in the real world that I observe daily is waaay more accepting and progressive than the predominant culture 30 years ago.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] [S] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    I’ll pull some studies in a minute here, but when I say demonstrably, I mean it. There’s a reason that Gen Z helped elect Trump.

    Women’s rights are regressing worldwide, warns UN gender equality chief

    The report titled Ensuring and Strengthening Access to Justice for All Women and Girls, shows how laws are being reshaped to restrict women’s freedoms, silence their voices, and allow abuse without consequence.

    Together, these barriers mean that women worldwide have 64 per cent of the legal rights of men whilst 54 per cent of countries lack consent based legal definitions of rape.

    “Nearly 90 per cent of organizations working to end violence against women and girls are reporting reduction in essential services, only 5 per cent believe they can sustain the current situation they are in and sustain for over two years.”

    Source

    That’s right. According to a report published by UN Women in September 2022, it could take close to 300 years to achieve full gender equality at the current rate of progress (read: too slow).

    The global pandemic, conflict, the climate crisis, and a harsh backlash against women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are further diminishing the outlook for gender equality. Violence against women remains high; global health, climate, and humanitarian crises have further increased risks of violence, especially for the most vulnerable women and girls; and women feel more unsafe than they did before the pandemic.

    In countries as diverse as Afghanistan and the US, women and girls now have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers did.

    Source

    Though vastly different, extremist movements, such as far-right ethno-nationalists, religious fundamentalists and online “incel” communities, have something in common. The ideological language may differ, but the underlying insistence on women’s “rightful place” in society binds these movements together.

    Around the world, there is a growing sentiment that “feminism has gone too far” or that men are now discriminated against. In Australia and other Western countries, this sentiment has risen steadily since 2021.

    Support for violence to resist feminism was highest among adolescent boys (28%), followed closely by adolescent girls (21%).

    Perhaps most alarming: roughly 40% of boys aged 13 to 17 agreed that women lie about domestic and sexual violence.

    Source

    Even in 2020, a large percentage of Americans continue to agree with statements designed to capture both hostile and benevolent sexism. Exposure to higher education appears to tamper, to some degree, hostile sexist viewpoints, but plays only a modest role in reducing benevolent sexism. Given the significance of hostile sexism in predicting support for Donald Trump and Republican candidates in recent elections, it is instructive to consider how American adults are divided largely along the lines of sex and education when it comes to their adherence to hostile sexism. This suggests that if sexism continues to play a major role in future elections, the gender and education gap between Republicans and Democrats will continue to grow even larger.

    Source

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I only heard about it when she put out a full nudity and penetration reinacment video. The reactions to that were certainly interesting.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)
  • [–] 56 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    What an absolute shit university Columbia has become.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 34 points 1 month ago

    The story's lead image, of the person that famously always carried the mattress... is of her not holding a mattress?

    Did we do a journalism, Dad?

  • source
  • In case you're looking for more like this

    Artnet cited it as "almost certainly ... one of the most important artworks of the year", comparing it to Ana Mendieta's Untitled (Rape Scene) (1973) and Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz-Starus's Three Weeks in May (1977).

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattress_Performance_(Carry_That_Weight)

  • source
  • [–] 41 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    It wasn't the mattress that she was raped on.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattress_Performance_(Carry_That_Weight)

    It was the same model, though.

    Purchased online from Tall Paul's Tall Mall, the 50-lb (23-kg), dark-blue, extra-long twin mattress is of the kind Columbia places in its dorms, similar to the one on which Sulkowicz said that Nungesser had raped her

  • source
  • [–] 69 points 1 month ago (33 children)

    In January 2015, New York's U.S. senator Kirsten Gillibrand invited Sulkowicz to attend the 2015 State of the Union Address.[5] Families Advocating for Campus Equality said the invitation was "undeserved and violates the principles of confidentiality and gender equality of Title IX",

    Wow, TIL about this asshole NGO that defends rapists

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_Advocating_for_Campus_Equality

  • source
  • hideshow 33 child comments
  • [+] 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (32 children)
  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    This reminds me of a reddit post from a while ago. Dude is going to a university in the US. He's randomly contacted by campus police to let him know that a student has taken out a restraining order on him. He's a graduate student, and the student who took out the restraining order is from one of his classes that's typically for undergrads. Other than sharing that class, he doesn't know the student. Never even spoken to them. He's on a student visa, if he's expelled, he'll likely be deported. He's not allowed to speak to the student and campus police won't even tell him why the restraining order is in place.

    After doing some investigation on his own, he finds out the student is dating one of his roommates, who he also doesn't know very well. The roommate is stalking the student, and another roommate is helping the stalker.

    The student who took out the restraining order had seen him with the stalker at some point and, because the class they share is typically for undergrads, assumed he only took the class to keep an eye on the student for the stalker.

    He was able to go to his graduate advisor about it and luckily it all got cleared up, the student withdrew the restraining order. But his whole academic career was nearly derailed because a random person was able to take out a restraining order on him with zero direct evidence, and there was no established means by which he could defend himself.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    "Campus Police" are regular police (for all that's worth), not rent-a-cops. Their jurisdiction is University and University-related policing. Think of the University as being its own city.

    I teach nights at a university and UPD is pretty great. The city cops are very much out to get people, whereas the UPD has a very light touch. They'll bust a party with a bunch of 19yo Kids drinking too much and getting loud, and tell them to keep it down and stay safe, while offering to call a non-police volunteer to drive anyone home for free.

    Parking Services (not part of UPD) can get go suck on a tailpipe though. Fuck those guys.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago* (4 children)

    They are given due process, including access to lawyers, evidence, and witnesses. They're even allowed to take the case to court. All public universities are required to offer full due process when expelling students.

    Private universities are not required to do so because they're not run by the government.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    So many of them do not. Why does not being run by the government exempt schools from applying basic human rights?

    Your question is a little hyperbolic since what your talking about is title IX specifically, not “human rights” in general.

    You can read about title IX exemptions here.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)
  • [–] 0 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    How are they being denied basic human rights?

    Title IX is very specific and the organization you refer to, FACE, specifically states their goal in relation to title IX.

    I can’t tell if your arguing in bad faith or you don’t understand title IX compared to other laws that would apply.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 3 points 1 month ago* (1 child)
  • [–] -1 points 1 month ago

    I’m not misunderstanding you. I think your struggling to follow your own conversation.

    You brought up FACE, an organization concerned with Title IX enforcement specifically.

    The other user explained they are given due process (under Title IX) and explained (poorly) that private colleges are not bound by the same rules if they don’t take government funding, expressed as government run.

    Then you shifted it to some conversation about basic human rights and questioned what not being government run has to do with.

    Which is why I shared the federal government page outlining Title IX exemptions.

    Due process is covered under the 5th and 14th amendments, not Title IX.

    Remember this:

    Where you cited a Wikipedia article about an organization concerned with Title IX to justify your claim they’re not given “due process”.

    It’s either bad faith or stupidity. Either way, I’m done engaging with it.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (24 children)

    Due process protects you from the government. You don't get due process when you get kicked out of a private business or university for misbehaving. They can kick you out for no reason at all.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 24 child comments
  • [+] 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (24 children)
  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    Then maybe Cornell shouldn’t have impeded a real investigation here.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [+] 4 points 1 month ago (6 children)
  • [–] [S] -1 points 1 month ago (5 children)

    Cornell is currently in the news for covering up a gang rape two years ago. It’s come out they withheld evidence from the DA and the police and DA never investigated properly.

    Columbia has similar skeletons in their closet.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)
  • [–] [S] -2 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    You have no idea the conversations you're actually having in here then.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] 1 point 1 month ago (4 children)
  • [–] [S] 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Are you deliberately trying to make yourself look like a fool? You really couldn’t do a better job if you tried.

    Says the person who stalked me to push that I'm a MAGA psyop. I don't attach any weight to any of your opinions.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] -1 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago (2 children)

    lol stating what you did doesn’t mean I believed you.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago* (1 child)

    Yeah you were pushing it multiple times. That doesn’t mean I believed your trolling attempt. Do you routinely struggle with reading comprehension?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (16 children)

    Getting fired is life changing yet we accept that we could be fired at any time for no reason here in the US. Protections against getting arbitrarily kicked out of a private university would require legislation. Right now that's a risk you assume when you go to a private institution versus a public one.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [+] 8 points 1 month ago (16 children)
  • [–] [S] -1 points 1 month ago (14 children)

    But getting kicked out of university for supposed rape when you’re innocent is a life sentence.

    What do you think having to drop out of University because of the trauma of being raped does to a person?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 14 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (7 children)

    So two wrongs make a right? This person had their life horribly disrupted for reason A so an unrelated person should have their life horribly disrupted for reason B?

    People should not be subject to arbitrary harm from others and we should be against all forms of it, whether that's sexual assault, economic coercion or lack of due process.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 month ago (6 children)

    lack of due process.

    When universities hide evidence, don't report to authorities, and otherwise dodge investigating rape accusations, then people aren't going to trust when they exonerate these men.

    This is on the system that protects these rapists.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Due process is also a system that can make things like racism, sexism, nepotism harder. Also outside of universities people often feel like the legal system protects offenders, but it in a well functioning system it also protects them. After all, without due process, rape victims themselves can also be expelled by universities.

    And when a legal system doesn't work, it needs fixing. People fought hard for legal protections to put in place in the first place.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I don't know about this case, if that is true then its terrible and he should have been arrested, convicted and thrown out of the university. But the larger point stands, denying some people of due process because others are harmed in other ways is not something to strive for.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 month ago* (2 children)

    The rape victims at these universities deserve due process as well. As in a legit investigation and not hiding of evidence to protect these men.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 4 points 1 month ago (6 children)
  • [–] [S] 0 points 1 month ago (4 children)

    But until there is some major breakthrough, this is the best system we have.

    Not when universities have the ability to hide evidence and obfuscate real investigations in order to protect these men. Which they have done time and time again.

    This is not the best system we have. We can't even get the police to process rape kits.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] 3 points 1 month ago (4 children)
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    Why do you think these stories are getting such traction right now?

    These investigations were corrupt.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)
  • [–] [S] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

    Then reinvestigate and improve the system, but don’t let yourself fade into even more lawlessness.

    What the fuck do you think we're doing when we talk openly about these things with righteous anger? What the fuck do you think we're doing when we demand that universities no longer sweep these accusations aside?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)
  • [–] [S] 0 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

    Public pressure can do wonders for making change.

    Geez, Photonic, maybe if more people pushed back on some of the absolute horrid takes I've seen around, I wouldn't make it a point to be so outspoken.

    Oh, it's your creepy ass again:

    "What’s this then, Velma? Literally the next day I find you on the music community raging about pedophilia? The comment was supposed to be a sarcastic criticism about how you’re using the MAGA playbook to discredit politicians outside the US. You weren’t supposed to be taking notes… "'

    Yeah I can continue to not give any of your opinions weight. Thanks!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
    [–] 11 points 1 month ago
    [–] 15 points 1 month ago*

    Good for her

    This is completely unacceptable. The fact that multiple women reported the same guy is a huge red flag

  • source
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›