Paul Nungesser, who was cleared of rape allegations, claims the university did not protect him against harassment.
Emma Sulkowicz carries a mattress in protest of the university's lack of action after she reported being raped by Paul Nungesser.
Andrew Burton / Getty Images
A Columbia University student accused of rape filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the school, its president, and a professor.
Paul Nungesser, who filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, claims the university did not protect him against harassment when a female student, Emma Sulkowicz, publicly called him a "serial rapist," and ultimately destroyed his "college experience, his reputation, his emotional well-being and his future career prospects."
"By refusing to protect Paul Nungesser, Columbia University first became a silent bystander and then turned into an active supporter of a fellow student's harassment campaign by institutionalizing it and heralding it," the lawsuit said.
Sulkowicz and Nungesser had been friends but she said that in August 2012 he hit her, choked her, pinned her down, and raped her in her dorm room. The school eventually cleared Nungesser of any wrongdoing, but Sulkowicz claimed the university mishandled the disciplinary hearing.
Sulkowicz, who is not named as a defendant in the complaint, gained international attention when she vowed, as part of her thesis project, to carry a mattress around campus until Nungesser left the university.
"I'll do this until he leaves on his own or if the school expels him — anything that means we're not going to school together. But I'm prepared to do it until I receive my diploma," Sulkowicz told BuzzFeed in September.
The lawsuit also listed Jon Kessler, the visual arts professor that approved Sulkowicz's "Mattress Project" as a defendant, claiming he "publicly endorsed her harassment and defamation," of Nungesser.
"Day-to-day life is unbearably stressful, as Emma and her mattress parade around campus each and every day," the lawsuit said.
Nungesser, who is a German citizen, seeks unspecific damages. He says he wants to stay in the United States but that his job prospects have been "severely jeopardized," according to the law suit.
In an email to BuzzFeed News, Columbia University spokesperson Robert Hornsby said he has no comment.
Columbia is currently under investigation by the Department of Education after a federal complaint was filed in 2014 alleging the school violated Title IX, Title II, and the Clery Act. In April, student activists protested the school's handling of sexual assault by projecting "Columbia Protects Rapists," on the main administration building on campus.
LINK: This College Student Will Carry A Mattress To Class Every Day Until Her Alleged Rapist Leaves Campus
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1boo7SL
No comments:
Post a Comment