this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2026
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Today I Learned

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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.

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[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 5 points 16 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.