Are you familiar with the name Emma Sulkowicz?
If not, or if you were and have forgotten, let me tell you that Ms. Sulkowicz is the Columbia University student who, for the past year, has been walking on campus with a mattress slung over her shoulders, to remind people that she was raped by another student, named Paul Nungesser, and that the university has done nothing about it. She even toted it to her graduation ceremony this week.
But was she actually raped?
Let\’s start with the following observation, which leads, in my opinion, to an unprovable, but logical, conclusion: if Columbia University – an epicenter of leftist thought and political correctness – investigated the alleged rape, and determined that there was nothing to the allegation, thus no reason to discipline Mr. Nungesser, then Ms. Sulkowicz probably was not raped.
But there\’s a little more here.
Cathy Young, who writes for The Daily Beast, sat down with Paul Nungesser and heard his side of the story. You can click here to read the entire interview (please do, it\’s worth every second of your time). But, in the meanwhile, here is a key excerpt…which took place after Ms. Sulkowicz acknowledges she and Mr. Nungesser had already engaged in consensual sex twice:
After a summer of affectionate and often intimate Facebook chats (screenshots of which Nungesser, who has since deactivated all of his social-media accounts, provided to The Daily Beast), Nungesser and Sulkowicz returned to Columbia in late August and saw each other at an end-of-summer party for COOP leaders. As the party was wrapping up, they started talking in the courtyard, then began to hug and kiss and ended up going back to Sulkowicz\’s dorm room-at her invitation, according to Nungesser. He says he had consumed two mixed drinks and was “buzzed, but not intoxicated or anything.” (Sulkowicz has previously described him as “drunk” during the incident.)
While Sulkowicz has always said that they started out having consensual sex, her account diverges drastically from Nungesser\’s at this point. According to Sulkowicz, he suddenly and brutally assaulted her, then picked up his clothes and left without a word, leaving her stunned and shattered on the bed. According to Nungesser, they briefly engaged in anal intercourse by mutual agreement, then went on to engage in other sexual activity and fell asleep. He says that he woke up early in the morning and went back to his own room while Sulkowicz was still sleeping.
Sulkowicz has said in interviews that she was too embarrassed and ashamed to talk to anyone about the rape, let alone report it; an account of her mattress protest by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith says that she “suffered in silence” in the aftermath of the assault. Yet Nungesser says that for weeks after that night, he and Sulkowicz maintained a cordial relationship, and says she seemingly never indicated that anything was amiss.
Nungesser provided The Daily Beast with Facebook messages with Sulkowicz from August, September, and October 2012. (In an email to The Daily Beast, Sulkowicz confirmed that these records were authentic and not redacted in any way; while she initially offered to provide “annotations” explaining the context on the messages, she then emailed again to say that she would not be sending them.) On Aug. 29, two days after the alleged rape, Nungesser messaged Sulkowicz on Facebook to say, “Small shindig in our room tonight-bring cool freshmen.” Her response:
lol yusss
Also I feel like we need to have some real time where we can talk about life and thingz
because we still haven\’t really had a paul-emma chill sesh since summmmerrrr
On Sept. 9, on a morning before an ADP meeting, it was Sulkowicz who initiated the Facebook contact, asking Nungesser if he wanted to “hang out a little bit” before or after the meeting and concluding with:
whatever I want to see yoyououoyou
respond-I\’ll get the message on ma phone
On Oct. 3, Sulkowicz\’s birthday, Nungesser sent her an effusive greeting; she responded the next morning with, “I love you Paul. Where are you?!?!?!?!” Nungesser claims that these exchanges represent only a small portion of their friendly communications, which also included numerous text messages. But he also says that during those weeks, they were starting to drift apart; they saw each other at meetings and parties, but plans for one-on-one get-togethers always seemed to end in “missed connections.” Nungesser says that he assumed it was simply a matter of hanging out with a new crowd and, in Sulkowicz\’s case, being in a new relationship. He says that “it was very amiable; nothing was changed or different or weird or anything in her behavior.” (To be sure, many rape victims\’ advocates would argue that women traumatized by sexual violence, especially by someone they trusted and cared about, may deal with trauma in ways that don\’t make sense to an observer.)
So what happened?
Two people who had a history of engaging in consensual sex, had what both agree started as another instance of consensual sex.
But then, Ms. Sulkowicz claims, Mr. Nungesser subjected her to a brutal sexual attack. Nungesser says that the sex they had at that time was as consensual as the sex they had in the past.
And then? For months, Ms. Sukowicz not only did not indicate any rape took place, but made it clear, in writing, that she was still hot to continue their interpersonal relationship….with no indication that sex was any issue at all.
From this, I conclude that Emma Sulkowicz is either an emotionally disturbed young woman or a conniving publicity seeker. But, either way, she is not a rape victim.
I also conclude that Columbia University – which, if you read the entire article (as I again urge you to do) was poised to take Paul Nungesser apart – correctly determined there was no evidence he did a thing wrong.
Ok, that\’s my take on this incident. What\’s yours?
