What happened after this student was CLEARED of rape is truly a crime

Emma Sulkowicz, 22-year-old Columbia University graduate, alleges she was anally raped and violently attacked in her dorm room by another student on the first day of her second year in August 2012, during what began as a consensual sexual encounter.

Columbia University cleared Sulkowicz’s accused rapist of responsibility. But it was not over.

In protest of the university’s handling of the case, during the summer of 2014 visual arts major Sulkowicz created what she called, “Mattress Performance,” a performance art protest piece. She purchased a mattress — the same dark blue, extra-long twin kind from Columbia’s dorms, similar to the one on which Sulkowicz alleges she was raped — and defined the rules of engagement for the performance. Written on the walls of her studio in the university’s Watson Hall, these included that Sulkowicz had to carry the mattress when on university property; that it had to remain on campus when she was not there; and that she was not allowed to ask for help in carrying it, but if help was offered she could accept.

In early September 2014, Sulkowicz began carrying the mattress on campus. Sulkowicz said the work would end when the accused was expelled from or otherwise left Columbia; she would take the mattress to her graduation ceremony if necessary. She kept a diary throughout, amounting to 59,000 words by the end of the project.

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