Emma Sulkowicz
Emma Sulkowicz
Emma Sulkowicz (born October 3, 1992) is the daughter of Sandra Leong and Kerry Sulkowicz, psychiatrists from Manhattan.
She attended Dalton School on the Upper East Side, and in 2011 began her visual arts degree at Columbia University.
She graduated from Columbia University in the spring of 2015 with a B.A. in Visual Art.
[+] Emma is a women's rights activist and performance artist.
[+]
Mattress Performance
Sulkowicz alleges that she was slapped, choked, and anally raped 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.
The student Sulkowicz accused denies the allegation, insisting that the encounter was entirely consensual.
In April 2013, 8 months after the encounter, Sulkowicz filed a complaint with the university.
Sulkowicz says she filed her complaint after she encountered two other female students who said they had been victimized by the same individual.
One was a former girlfriend who said she was emotionally abused during their long-term relationship, and later came to view their sexual relations as having been non-consensual.
The other said that on one occasion the accused student had moved toward her aggressively, grabbed her arms, and attempted to kiss her.
Shortly after Sulkowicz filed her complaint, the two other students with whom she was acquainted also filed complaints with the university against the same student.
Columbia ultimately cleared him of responsibility in all three cases.
The case attracted wider attention when the three female students who filed complaints gave interviews to the New York Post, which broke the story on December 11, 2013, without naming those involved.
In April 2014 Sulkowicz appeared with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at a press conference about campus sexual assault.
On April 24, 2014, 23 students filed a federal complaint against Columbia and Barnard College, alleging violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law upholding gender equality in federally funded institutions.
Among other issues, the complaint alleged that the institutions discourage students from reporting sexual assault, that alleged perpetrators are not removed from campus, and that sanctions are too lenient.
The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation in January 2015.
On May 14, 2014, Sulcowicz filed a complaint with the NYPD.
The district attorney's office interviewed Sulkowicz and the student she accused in August, but did not pursue charges, citing lack of reasonable suspicion.
Art Performances:
Mattress Performance (Carry that Weight) [+]
Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol [+]