Columbia student accused of rape sues the university and its president, says they did not protect him

Emma Sulkowicz on the Columbia campus.
(Image credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Paul Nungesser, a Columbia University student who was accused of rape by a classmate, filed a federal discrimination lawsuit Thursday in Manhattan against Columbia, President Lee C. Bollinger, and Prof. Jon Kessler.

Emma Sulkowicz says that Nungesser raped her in a dorm room in August 2012, while Nungesser says they had consensual sex; he was later cleared of responsibility in the rape claim by Columbia. Sulkowicz made headlines when she began to carry a mattress around campus to bring attention to what she says happened to her, and turned it into her senior thesis, "Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight)."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.