Comment from Nungesser’s lawyer in this article:
"Allowing Sulkowicz to carry her mattress may have helped Nungesser’s case in court, as the school made clear that large objects were banned but then did nothing to stop Sulkowicz.
Nungesser’s lawyer, Kimberly Lau, told the Washington Examiner that Columbia’s acceptance of Sulkowicz’s graduation stunt was “absurd” and would help her client’s case.
“This goes beyond mere facilitation; they have now granted a special exception,” Lau said."
Also for those who remember “Adam” from the Jezebel article—he has lost his case:
“But, as with Sulkowicz and her two other friends who reported Nungesser after talking to each other, the latest accuser, known only as “Adam,” has lost his case. Columbia University yet again — and in the face of media pressure to condemn Nungesser based solely on accusations — found him “not responsible.” And Adam’s story is even easier to pick apart than Sulkowicz’s.”
You can read more in this Cathy Young article:
http://reason.com/archives/2015/05/20/columbia-rape-saga-lingers-after-mattres/
Even in the case of a serious charge, making false allegations of rape, the artist couldn’t refrain from attacking the women’s appearance. Far from being “elegant,” that’s cheap and lazy.
Wow!
There is an Adam. I didn’t think there was an Adam.
I don’t know about this Nungesser guy.
Did you read the Reason article? I know Cathy Young isn’t popular with some here, but she lays out the reasons why Nungesser was, yet again, found not responsible.
All 4 accusers knew each other. Coincidence? Paul maybe not having the smarts to widen his predatory net? Or, we don’t like this guy for whatever reason, let’s get him out of here? Who knows?
I would have thought Columbia would be under intense pressure with this last case (settled before the lawsuit, I believe) to finally get rid of this headache of a student, but no, still did not find him guilty.
I know some will say, 4 accusers, he has to have done something to at least one of them. But you could also say, 4 accusers who all knew each other, no evidence he did anything to any of them without their consent, could be a witch hunt.
Yes. I read the article. I wouldn’t have commented if I didn’t.
The article is an opinion piece.
Yeah re: 302 well you all know I think it is a “cheap shot” that Sulkowicz was allowed to do what she did. I think the whole thing is way out of control and was the day they allowed her to cart her mattress around, the day they allowed the college newspaper to name names, the day they allowed students to post names on bathroom walls and I could go on, but how can it be a cheap shot when she “calls” someone a rapist and someone else calls her a “liar”…hard to say which is the “cheap shot.” They kinda smell the same to me. It took awhile to pull this stunt off, I personally think they had it in the wings and when all the national publicity was focused on her and her stupid mattress for Columbia’s graduation is was the proverbial dam breaking and the group responsible “went for it.”
Re the Adam story…I don’t believe for one second that all 4 of those accusers weren’t in cahoots…not a New York minute. The timing of each thing was just “off.” The stories were “off”
This whole thing is a freaking mess. Do those of you who have been following the story closely think it will ever be sorted out definitively?
What about the parts where she quotes the investigator’s report? Or is the report also not to be trusted because it is opinion?
"Adam told investigators that he spoke to Nungesser’s girlfriend about this; however, he didn’t seem to remember when, or what her reaction was. At one point, he said that he “assumed” he had told her immediately afterward, and “it wasn’t until months later that I realized that I had not and she was unaware.” He also claimed that he avoided Nungesser after the alleged assault, and that Nungesser eventually texted him and then messaged him on Facebook; according to him, Nungesser was upset with him for telling Natalie about their sexual contact, but also suggested that they get together for coffee.
Nungesser’s story was quite different. He said that he confided in Adam about his and Natalie’s relationship troubles, that there was no sexual contact of any kind, and that later on he was dismayed to learn that Adam had recounted their conversation to Natalie.
The Facebook exchange, which Adam himself eventually found and turned over to the investigators, did not exactly help his story. Far from showing avoidance of Nungesser, it showed Adam seeking him out, complaining that “our friendship has been negatively affected” by Nungesser’s relationship problems and that “we’re less close/you’re preferring it that way.” It also showed Nungesser saying, “It was obviously pretty hard for me when I found out that you shared my entire conversation that I had with you with [Natalie], because I had assumed that it was confidential.”
The investigators’ report noted numerous contradictions in Adam’s account, as well as its drastic discrepancy with the Facebook record. Nungesser’s account, on the other hand, was not only consistent but matched by corroborative evidence. Adam’s credibility was further sunk by his rather fanciful complaints of “retaliation” by Nungesser in a class they shared. These “deliberately aggressive acts” consisted of sitting too close to Adam or to his friends, which left Adam “distraught and traumatized,” and complimenting some points Adam had made in a class discussion (which “felt like he was claiming a collective sense of power”). I am happy to report that, even on the trauma-happy modern campus, such claims of harassment are still recognized as, in the words of the report, “hyperbolic and illogical.”
In the end, the investigators concluded that Adam was “unreliable” and that his story simply did not add up, and recommended that Nungesser be found “not responsible.”
I read that.
What happened at the actual commencement ceremony?
Tuesday was the last day Emma carried the mattress.
From the person/people claiming the Twitter feed. I thought so (and I removed the hash tags).
From the complaint filed by Paul (page 11), the specific allegations from the other 2 accusers were:
I don’t know the complete story of course, but I would expect that his lawyer would not lie about these claims or leave out other claims since it would be easy to expose and damage the credibility.
I don’t know a lot about this case, but I was surprised that he was not allowed to present all of the Facebook messages between the two of them.
Statement from Paul Nungesser’s family:
"Our son’s graduation should have been a joyous moment for our whole family. We are extremely proud of Paul for graduating, even more so because of the harassment campaign he was subjected to. For over two years, he had to fight false accusations and a public witch-hunt, even though Columbia and the NYPD exonerated him.
"At graduation, Columbia University again broke its own rules and afforded Emma Sulkowicz a special exception. It was the second devastating experience in just a few days: Last week, Columbia exhibited Emma Sulkowicz’s highly disturbing and extremely graphic drawings of our son publicly on campus.
"We have come to realize that at Columbia, not all are equal before its policy. What is the point of internal investigations if their outcome is not accepted? Instead those with better connections and more influence promoted a false narrative. While they failed at their goal of bullying our son into leaving this university, they have turned his life into a nightmare.
"Responsible for this nightmare is not just the woman, who received an academic degree for the attempt to shame Paul away from campus, but even more at fault is the University that conferred this degree. A university that bows to a public witch-hunt no longer deserves to be called a place of enlightenment, of intellectual and academic freedom. By failing to intervene in this injustice, Columbia ceases to be a place where critical thinking, courage and democratic practice are taught, learned and lived.
“Two years ago we would have never believed that one of the world’s most prestigious universities would not only allow such harassment but explicitly support it on its campus. This has been a deeply humiliating experience. We are very proud of our son for graduating from college, but our memory of it will always be tainted by Columbia’s wrongdoing.”
I hypothesized months and months ago that Paul would wait until he had his diploma and then put the screws to everyone complicit…I hope this family gets the closure they deserve.
No.
I am still waiting to get definitive closure on what happened in Rashomon.
Unfortunately, closure is not what you get with a lawsuit. At least not for a loooooong while.
In our litigious society I would hardly call filing a lawsuit which is covered by insurance “putting the screws” to anyone. Seeing heads roll at Columbia or getting a substantial uninsured judgment against Emma Sulkowicz would be “putting the screws” to someone.
It would be interesting if he could sue to stop her from profiting from the whole thing: if a museum actually wanted to take the bait and buy her mattress, for example.
Given her level of self-promotion, it is hard to figure if she was joking when she talked about selling it to a museum. Maybe there are sufficiently deluded people in the contemporary “art” market that one of them would pay for her mattress…
Alas, I assume that the statutes forbidding someone from profiting from a crime would not apply in this case, since she conveniently found the idea of pursuing a police case “too tiring”–was that the phrase she used?-- before the point where she might have been charged with perjury.