this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2026
921 points (97.1% liked)

Today I Learned

31657 readers
1510 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] moldy_rice@piefed.keyboardvagabond.com 66 points 1 day ago (2 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

[–] Randelung@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago

"Families Advocating" oh yeah, definitely a racist/sexist/bigoted organization. They're not all named like this, but those that are, are very likely very shitty.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Well after reading the wiki, I wouldn’t call it that:

Specifically, FACE objects to many schools' Title IX proceedings that deny students basic procedures traditionally provided to those defending themselves against allegations of wrongdoing, such as: not being informed of the specific accusations, denied access to the complaint, witness statements, and evidence, and not being permitted to contact and present witnesses.

I think due process is one of the fundamental principles of our society, be for it murder, rape or petty theft.

[–] Boost@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

That’s why you shouldn’t let university staff do police work or become Dredd (judge, jury & executioner). Professionals have trained for years to get this stuff right but “campus police” thinks they can do it without any proper training or investigation.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

"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.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 0 points 14 hours ago

That’s good to hear. Maybe I shouldn’t have shat on the campus police but rather the campus staff making the decision to expel without going through the proper process.

[–] droans@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 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.

[–] Denfa@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

An anonymous poster posts a story in Reddit…

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They are given due process

That’s in contradiction to what the Wikipedia page shows.

Private universities are not required to do so

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

[–] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago (1 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.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I’m not talking about human rights in general, I’m talking about those specific basic human rights.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 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.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

If you misbehave, sure, but this is not misbehaving. This is a crime. One that hasn’t been proven to have happened at all.

They can kick you out for no reason at all.

That is a major issue. Kicking someone out of university is a life-changing punishment, and should not be taken so lightly when someone may be innocent. There should be rules about that and I don’t think this should be normalized.

[–] cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 22 hours ago (1 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.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago (22 children)

That is also a problem. But getting kicked out of university for supposed rape when you’re innocent is a life sentence. No decent job will ever hire you.

The fact that this shit happens all the time doesn’t mean you have to normalise it. It’s not normal.

[–] DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Actually it's a pre requisite for being a politician or clergy member.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Earns you a golden toilet even

load more comments (21 replies)
[–] velma@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (12 children)

I don’t see a Cornell in this story. Do you mean the university? (I honestly don’t know, not from the US)

If that’s the case: absolutely, the university should not have a say in what is a matter of the law.

load more comments (12 replies)