May 30, 2015

"Have We Learned Anything From the Columbia Rape Case?"

This is a longish NYT Magazine article by Emily Bazelon. Is there anything new here or is this more of a summary of a problem — a conflict — that those of us who've been following the story already know?

1. How Nungesser's parents felt at graduation: It was "devastating," they say, "especially... an exhibition at a university gallery...  that included Sulkowicz’s prints of a naked man with an obscenity and of a couple having sex, inked over a copy of a Times article about Nungesser." I'm a little confused by the word "prints." Prints like etchings or lithographs? Sulkowicz — in email (I think to Bazelon) — called the "prints" "cartoons."

2. Sulkowicz's email gives some insight into the kind of rhetoric she is purveying: "What are the functions of cartoons? Do they depict the people themselves (a feat which, if you’ve done enough reading on art theory, you will realize is impossible), or do they illustrate the stories that have circulated about a person?" Suddenly, I'm thinking about the Charlie Hebdo massacre and other incidents involving cartoons depicting Muhammad. Maybe those who get murderous over cartoons just haven't read enough art theory. And I'm put off by the assertion that if only people would read the right amount of a prescribed sort of material, we'd necessarily believe a particular sort of thing. It's saying: The only reason you don't already agree with me is that you're ignorant.

3.  And I don't even understand how those 2 sentences in Sulkowicz's email addressed the pain experienced by Nungesser's parents. Aside from the parenthetical, which is an assertion, the 2 sentences are 2 questions, but the first question sets up the second question, and the second question is an either/or question, within which the first option is negated by the assertion in the parenthetical. Therefore, Sulkowicz really is saying her cartoons "illustrate the stories that have circulated about a person." So her art work is an illustration added to a NYT story that gives graphic reality to the allegations that were made about Nungesser.

4. I wrote "gives graphic reality to" because I was straining to avoid the word that normally comes to mind: depict. Not having read enough art theory to realize that it is impossible to depict Nungesser himself, I thought the use of that word might make me look ignorant to those who have done the homework. But, for the record, "depict" means "To draw, figure, or represent in colours; to paint; also, in wider sense, to portray, delineate, figure anyhow." Anyhow! As in "The solar progress is depicted by the Hindoos, by a circle of intertwining serpents." R. J. Sulivan View of Nature II. xliv. 288  (1794). (Definition and quote via the unlinkable OED.)

5. Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger avoided shaking Sulkowicz's hand at graduation and the university has taken the position that it wasn't actual shunning but the mattress getting in the way. Bazelon doesn't come out and call bullshit, but she links to the video so we can decide for ourselves.

6. Because we don't have the transcript of Columbia's disciplinary proceedings, "even the procedural disputes between Sulkowicz and Nungesser are lost in the land of she-said-he-said." Sulkowicz says she was asked "ignorant and insensitive questions." (That's Bazelon's paraphrase.) But we're not seeing the actual context. And Sulkowicz and Nungesser are saying different things about whether their friendly Facebook conversations were admitted as evidence. It's frustrating to have this matter become so public — through Sulkowicz's performance art — and then be deprived of the transcript, but Columbia has to protect student privacy and to encourage other students to feel secure that their privacy will be protected if they need to file a complaint or if they are accused.

7. Columbia is trying to improve its procedure: "Students are now permitted to bring a lawyer to their hearings, and if they can’t afford an attorney, the university will provide one. The university also hired new investigators and other staff members and gave training on how to hear cases to the administrators who serve as panelists."

8. Sulkowicz says "the system is broken because it is so much based on proof that a lot of rape survivors don’t have." And: "Even if you have physical evidence, you can prove that violence occurred but not that someone didn’t want the sex to be violent." Presumably, she wants to fix the system by avoiding the need to prove things that are too hard to prove. Here, that would be the mental element that accompanies the sexual act. But how can you possibly get rid of the need for that evidence?

9. Some people say, get rape cases out of university proceedings and into the criminal justice system. Bazelon's response to that is: "[I]n the eyes of the government, universities have this responsibility because of an important principle rooted in the federal law, Title IX: If a rape prevents a victim from taking full advantage of her education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime." Quite aside from what statutory law requires, universities may properly see themselves as having a role in making the campus environment a safer and friendlier place. Bazelon refers to counseling, academic accommodations, assurances that alleged assailants won’t contact complainants, and education about prevention of sexual assaults.

10. Bazelon mentions early on that Nungesser is suing Columbia, but she doesn't connect that to other issues she discusses. She doesn't say that his lawsuit is based on Title IX (though, as you see in point #9, she says that Title IX causes universities to want to remain involved in providing remedies to victims). And she talks about Bollinger's avoidance of Sulkowicz at graduation (point #5, above) without saying that Bollinger is a named defendant in Nungesser's lawsuit.

77 comments:

MathMom said...

I feel very bad for her parents.

SGT Ted said...

Sulkowicz is a lair and a fraud. She is most likely mentally ill in some fashion. I suspect some sort of histrionic or attention seeking disorder, which seems all too common in modern campus feminism.

When an actual investigative journalist, Cathy Young, tried to interview Sulkowicz in a way that suggested doubt about the latter’s narrative, Sulkowicz, who had paraded her life in the media for months, turned around and accused Young of re-raping her:

“I have already been violated by both Paul and Columbia University once. It is extremely upsetting that Paul would violate me again — this time, with the help of a reporter, Cathy Young. I just wanted to fix the problem of sexual assault on campus — I never wanted this to be an excuse for people to dig through my private Facebook messages and frame them in a way as to cast doubt on my character. It’s unfair and disgusting that Paul and Cathy would treat personal life as a mine that they can dig through and harvest for publicity and Paul’s public image."

Think carefully about that hyperbolic, hysterical, defensive language now that you know about Sulkowicz’s sexually aggressive and affection texts to Nungasser, both before and after her alleged “rape.” Also, think carefully about the positive attention that Sulkowicz garnered with her libelous performance art:


http://www.bookwormroom.com/2015/05/21/feminist-claims-about-rape-victimize-women-just-as-surely-as-the-mcmartin-trials-victimized-children/


timkb4cq said...

Well, Sulkowicz and her companions carried the mattress in such a way that it formed a barrier between them and Bollinger. That's obviously a non-verbal denial of permission to enter her personal space, so Bollinger was correct in not attempting to touch her without explicit affirmative permission.

You reap what you sow...

madAsHell said...

I'm not sure why our hostess suffers so much anguish for these two. It was consensual sex that has become performance art.

Curious George said...

"Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger avoided shaking Sulkowicz's hand at graduation..."

Can't say I blame him. You don't know where that slut's hand been.

Etienne said...

You know that woman is going straight to a federal job. I don't know of any commercial capitalist enterprise that has a position for someone so self-obsessed.

I wouldn't shake her hand either. There's nothing to congratulate her for. Other than being an asshole.

Look, Adam got raped, and we'd all be immortal if he hadn't, but it's water under the bridge.

Michael K said...

"She is most likely mentally ill in some fashion. I suspect some sort of histrionic or attention seeking disorder, which seems all too common in modern campus feminism."

Yes, she is another example of the moral panic that infects the left in this society. The last one was not as obvious as a leftist theme but Janet Reno was a prominent member of the lynch squad.

She is mentally ill but there are lots of others that exemplify the weird mentality that leads to witch trials in other settings.

Michael K said...

"You know that woman is going straight to a federal job"

Universities hire such people but she may be too toxic even for a university.

Paco Wové said...

Shouldn't the word 'rape' in the headline have been in quotes?

Laslo Spatula said...

If only we could be Sertain what happened.

Because Serta is a mattress.

Serta, Sertain.

Yeah. I know.


I am Laslo.

Original Mike said...

"Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger avoided shaking Sulkowicz's hand at graduation "

He didn't want to be accused of rape six months down the road.

Bay Area Guy said...

Mattress Girl - doubling down on lies, doubling down on crazy.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I can't say that I've learned nothing from the Columbia rape case.

I have learned something.

It's just that what I've learned is unimportant.

Real American said...

Emma "fuck me in the butt" Sulkowicz

rhhardin said...

She's unlucky it wasn't a roll in the hay.

Gahrie said...

"She is most likely mentally ill in some fashion. I suspect some sort of histrionic or attention seeking disorder, which seems all too common in modern campus feminism."

It's called hysteria.

Bay Area Guy said...

Q: Have we learned anything from the Columbia "rape" case?

A: Yes. If you have an 18-year old son who is smart enough to get into Columbia --- send him to San Diego St or Arizona St. He will meet pretty, well-adjusted girls, and you will save some shekels in the process.

traditionalguy said...

The Justice Department, Female Officials only, is needed to take over colleges that continue the terrible custom of allowing white male students to approach precious sexually active females. A mattress cam could also be required on all dorm room beds.

The dream of innocent girls to enjoy pure salad days of Lesbian Experiences is being ruined by male patriarchs seeking love in obviously the wrong place.

Unknown said...

A "longish" article begets a longish post. Shorter version: Nothing new here; move on.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Seriously, feminists don't see how they're trivializing rape? A couple more degrees of hysterical absurdity and we'll be back to panty raids.

RMc said...

That idiots will believe anything?

ObeliskToucher said...

"Quite aside from what statutory law requires, universities may properly see themselves as having a role in making the campus environment a safer and friendlier place."

I'm pretty sure that Nungesser would agree with this, but would have some comments about the implementation.

mikulin said...

"Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger avoided shaking Sulkowicz's hand at graduation and university has taken the position that it wasn't actual shunning but the mattress getting in the way." Why does Sulkowicz want us all to be involved with her every movement? Why should Bollinger have to explain himself? Why didn't Columbia enforce their "no large objects" ban at graduation that was crafted specifically to prevent this from happening?
"And Sulkowicz and Nungesser are saying different things about whether their friendly Facebook conversations were admitted as evidence. It's frustrating to have this matter become so public — through Sulkowicz's performance art — and then be deprived of the transcript, but Columbia has to protect student privacy and to encourage other students to feel secure that their privacy will be protected if they need to file a complaint or if they are accused." Columbia seems to have conspired thru different means both by acting and not acting to expose the guy. And thru accepting this mattress carrying as a school project, deliberately shining a spotlight on the actions of the girl to humiliate the guy after their own investigations dismissed her as untruthful. So whose privacy is the non release protecting?
"Quite aside from what statutory law requires, universities may properly see themselves as having a role in making the campus environment a safer and friendlier place. Bazelon refers to counseling, academic accommodations, assurances that alleged assailants won’t contact complainants, and education about prevention of sexual assaults. " As I understand it, Title IX protects all persons at education institutions from being discriminated against because of their sex. And now educational institutions are using this Title IX to conduct their own criminal investigations. But I think their are also federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace because of sex. Given that, could another entity, say a local department of water and power for instance, set up their own police services to investigate so called crimes of this nature outside of the local police force that governs their region?

Chaswjd said...

I would think that the young man she made the accusations against might have a viable Title IX claim against Columbia. It certainly sounds like a hostile educational environment for him. I wonder if Title IX could be a sword for victims of false accusations.

rcocean said...

This is what happens when Women take over Universities. Hopefully, someone in this soap opera got an education.

rcocean said...

Got to say it again. Just set up whorehouses on campus and outlaw sex between the undergrads. Problem solved.

Bob Boyd said...

"But how can you possibly get rid of the need for that evidence?"

It's traditionally been done by forming a lynch mob.

Bruce Hayden said...

I do wonder if the president of Columbia there would have shook her hand if he could have, or if it would have been inconvenient if he hadn't. Part of the problem is that the male victim has sued the school for essentially facilitating her victimization and harassment of him. It was bad enough that she cot college credit for the harassment. But maybe the icing was banner ng large objects at graduation, and then making a special exception for her mattress.

I will admit finding the Pretty Little Liar posters of her that went up around Columbia to be a nice touch.

Seeing Red said...

Women have more severe mental problems than men. What a timely paper.

Seeing Red said...

Eve was the first rapist? I LOVE IT! I can have so many fun conversations causing Progs' heads to explode! That is funny!

Anonymous said...

I recently attended the graduation ceremony for 65 home-schooled high school graduates. I kept waiting for one of them to bring along some evidence of their sexual history. None did. How odd.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

The sexual revolution, including the gender equivalence movement, claims more victims.

It's a "wicked problem" that surely demands a wicked solution a la pro-choice/planning/abortion. However, now the other party has a name, a voice, and resources to act in self-defense. It should be interesting to see if the Party and social complex will continue to promote and exploit their presumption of guilt narrative, and if people who are administered secular opiates will continue to tolerate a dysfunctional and regressive system in order to receive their fix. Perhaps the mattress will assume the symbolic significance of a scarlet letter, but in the wake of libertinism, and progressive administration of secular opiates, backed by dictatorial actions, that seems an unlikely outcome. Still, there's always the generational threshold.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fabi said...

Sulkowicz and her minions are doing more to destroy feminism than Andrew Dice Clay.

'Hickory. Dickory. Dock.'

Gerrard787 said...

I'm waiting for the Rolling Stone article on this case; then we'll know the truth.

Fen said...

feminists don't see how they're trivializing rape?

I have to admit that now when a women tells me she was raped, I want to ask: "Do you mean someone touched your elbow rape? Or were you actually raped?"

"He never called me back after we had sex"

"Oh I see.... hey I gotta run, cya!"

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Bitches be bugging'.

khesanh0802 said...

@gerard787. It will be out next month. They have established a legal defense fund for it if you care to contribute.

Diamondhead said...

A rape was needed for the project, so one was concocted.

bleh said...

The bitch is lying.

Moneyrunner said...

This is a great example of why frequent bloggers should not write long posts.

Moneyrunner said...

"I feel very bad for her parents."

I have read that they are prominent psychologists. Which may explain how the daughter expresses herself. So, no.

jr565 said...

We've learned that women lie about rape a lot, and the authorities jump all over themselves to pretend like they are on top of it all, and in the process have no problems screwing over people who may not in fact have raped anyone. Oh, and there are no real punishments for people who do cry false rape.
Yet more female privilege.

Skeptical Voter said...

Have we learned anything? Yes, never trust a mattress back woman.

That, and crazy people of any gender (how many are there now in the LGBTQQ dictionary?) are trouble.

Sebastian said...

"It's frustrating to have this matter become so public — through Sulkowicz's performance art — and then be deprived of the transcript, but Columbia has to protect student privacy and to encourage other students to feel secure that their privacy will be protected if they need to file a complaint or if they are accused."

So it has to protect student privacy except that it can also aid and abet students in violating that privacy. Got it.

Nungesser's parents must think America has gone mad.

Paul Ciotti said...

Every university has one. At UVA it was "Jackie." At Columbia it's Sulkowicz.

chickelit said...

Paul Ciotti said...

Every university has one. At UVA it was "Jackie." At Columbia it's Sulkowicz.

But not every university has a Bollinger. It's good that he's named as a defendant. Of course, he's probably protected from liability--even political liability.

wildswan said...

I'd like to see a law passed that says that administrators who enforce an illegal order from the Federal government lose their job and their pensions if that order is later found to be illegal. Because a lot of this Title IX persecution is education administrators bowing to some very questionable orders received from the Dept. of Education about how to interpret Title IX. We say that soldiers cannot just say they were following orders. We say that police cannot just fire because they "see" someone pulling out a gun. We say soldiers and police cannot cite usual practices in their areas to justify their actions. Then why should we allow administrators to say that they were "just following orders" from the Dept. of Education? Or that they thought that the Federal government would pull their university funding unless they deprived men of constitutional protections and so it was OK to shoot Paul Nungessor down? There ought to be a law - just like the one for soldiers and police.

wildswan said...

Yes I think there should be law saying that the US Constitution and Bill of Rights cannot be be suspended in the state of Wisconsin by state agencies such as the University of Wisconsin even if this means the loss of all Federal education aid. And if all the red states did it, then the Feds would have to back down. And blue states could continue to abuse college men who would then emigrate to the red states and that would be a good thing.

SGT Ted said...

One thing I learned as the father of a young man who was a chick magnet in high school and college is that sexually aggressive young women are head cases. Sulkowicz fits that to a "T".

Big Mike said...

Bazelon writes: "Does this reflect a bias that definitively disadvantaged Sulkowicz in pleading her case? Or was it a mistake in a mostly reasonable effort to ask Sulkowicz the kind of probing if grueling questions that are necessary to determine the truth in a rape case like this one?"

Or perhaps it was not a mistake but a legitimate attempt to understand whether Sulkowicz is a "woman scorned" who is trying to use Columbia to punish the man who scorned her. I'm surprised that an allegedly educated woman such as Bazelon would have never heard of "Medea."

Michael K said...

"sexually aggressive young women are head cases"

I think this also applies to the aggressive feminists.

Chuck said...

Enough; enough with the excuse that "going to the police and going through a prosecution is too painful for sexual assault victims." That excuse can no longer stand, after the horrific case of Paul Nungesser.

If you have been raped, you need to go to the police. If that process is painful for you, get help with that process/pain. And you always have a choice; you can choose not to assist police and prosecutors in a formal investigation and prosecution. It is probably a bad choice, but it will be your choice. Just accept this; if you decline to help prosecute your attacker, or if you have no case that will support a criminal conviction or even a civil jury verdict, then you just have to shut the fuck up. You can't go around town carrying a mattress.

As for Lee Bollinger; I am really surprised that the Lee Bollinger I've known from the days of Gratz v. Bollinger didn't give Emma Sulkowicz a big hug, a faculty appointment and a seat on the New York City Council.

chickelit said...

Althouse wrote: I'm a little confused by the word "prints." Prints like etchings or lithographs? Sulkowicz — in email (I think to Bazelon) — called the "prints" "cartoons."

Nungesser's parents are German, correct? Their words for print and impression are very similar (as are ours, actually).

Sulkowicz was an impressionable young woman who felt pressured.

Ann Althouse said...

"Nungesser's parents are German, correct? Their words for print and impression are very similar (as are ours, actually)."

It's Bazelon's word. In art, print tends to mean it's not an original, but a picture made with some kind of printing mechanism. It just felt odd in that sentence, but I think Bazelon wanted to be accurate and couldn't call it a drawing.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"The victim-industrial complex is tightening its grip."

Tenured College professor in the crosshairs of Title 9.

If you use a phone you can reach the article for free.

chickelit said...

Lem, I can't access that article because of a paywall.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I was able to access it via Twitter using my phone.

chickelit said...

I get the same blockage on my iPhone. I'll try googling some text...

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Try the trick used to break the WSJ pay wall.

Google "My Title IX Inquisition" maybe it will work.

Scott said...

Sulkowicz, Jackie & Anita Hill should be sharing a jail cell.

chickelit said...

Ok, that worked, Lem. Thanks.

Sounds like intimidation....getting people to think and speak like they're being deposed.

I was lucky (in a past professional life) to have sat in on a lot of depositions (without having to pretend to be an attorney) and to see the devastating effect that that scenario has on human discourse. The lead council on the biggest case I worked on told me "I would hate to depose you."

chickelit said...

Scott said...

Sulkowicz, Jackie & Anita Hill should be sharing a jail cell.

That might work as a "Jailbabes" video.

Anonymous said...

I Google's "Emma sulkowicz parents" and found an article in the Columbia Spectator. They see Emma as a victim of the slow process at Columbia and the slow process of the legal system. I see no hope that Emma will ever develop mainstream American values.

chickelit said...

@Grundoon: Columbia Unidiversity should probably adopt a more Hasterian time frame of crime and punishment. Maybe 24 hrs?

Ron Winkleheimer said...

"If a rape prevents a victim from taking full advantage of her education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime."

Lets change one word of the statement:

If a murder prevents a victim from taking full advantage of her education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime.

Rape is either a serious crime, on par with murder and other felonies, or it is not. Obviously, colleges have the responsibility to police sexual harassment. But the moment the word rape is uttered then the police need to be involved. Colleges are free to offer whatever counseling they wish, but they are unsuited to adjudge questions of innocence and guilt in such a situation.

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...

Rape case? Rape hoax may be a better description.

Michael K said...

"I was lucky (in a past professional life) to have sat in on a lot of depositions "

I spent years working as an expert witness in medical cases. Medal for both sides and many criminal cases due to trauma care.

It's interesting to have that experience and see how the legal system works in practice as opposed to theory. At one time I thought of writing a book about how to use expert witnesses. My ex-wife did a lot of similar work on banking cases. One son is a trial lawyer. It might have been interesting.

Michael K said...

That is supposed to be "Med Mal"

Fen said...

"If a rape prevents a victim from taking full advantage of her education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime."

If a false rape accusation prevents a victim from taking full advantage of his education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime.

Peter said...

"Presumably, she wants to fix the system by avoiding the need to prove things that are too hard to prove."

If her assertion is that "preponderance of the evidence" is too high a hurdle, then perhaps what she's really asking for is, the accuser need only accuse and then the accused must prove his innocence?

Sort of like the defendant's rights in a criminal trial, but reversed.


Sulkowicz has put herself in a position where it's all but impossible for her to ever recant anything, in much the way that everyday liars find that one lie requires another to support it, and another and another after that; thus, the first lie commits one to a path that quickly becomes irreversible.

Rick said...

The next day, the campus woke up to nasty posters in the neighborhood, with a picture of Sulkowicz and her mattress and the words “Pretty Little Liar” and “#RAPEHOAX.” The trolling has since continued online.

Normally I'd see this sort of thing as beyond the pale, but it's quite tame compared to how she has portrayed Nungesser. I find it quite revealing that so many people are outraged without even having the decency to float a proforma criticism at Sulkowicz's media efforts.

the gold digger said...

get rape cases out of university proceedings and into the criminal justice system.

Isn't rape against the law? Since when does the university get jurisdiction over felonies?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Is Emma Suckowicz adopted? She looks like neither an Emma nor a Suckowicz. The origins of her crazee may run deeper than we know.

Anonymous said...

I get it now. The mattress she carries around is like the cross that Jesus carried...

...to his death. Jesus didn't expect anyone to save him. That was kind of the point.

Of course, there's always self-defense. Maybe women could learn self-defense against rape? If I knew people were trying to rape me (a male), I'd definitely carry a weapon with me when I leave the house (instead of a mattress). A mattress is a horrible weapon.