A fine line between bullying and free speech

In her response to news that the man she accused of sexual assault was suing their university over the way it — and she — harassed him after he was exonerated, Emma Sulkowicz claimed that what she was doing was art.

"[It's] ridiculous that he would read it as a 'bullying strategy,' especially given his continued public attempts to smear my reputation, when really it's just an artistic expression of the personal trauma I've experienced at Columbia," Sulkowicz told the Associated Press.

In her mind, it seemed, carrying a mattress around Columbia University, giving interview after interview and allowing his name to be published as an unpunished rapist, constituted her free speech. When Paul Nungesser tried to defend himself from the relentless accusation — which both Columbia University and New York police found to be without merit — that was bullying.

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