Emma Sulkowicz was raped a couple years ago. While she has reported the incident to the authorities at the university, she goes to as an art student, her plea for justice has fallen on deaf ears.
The case was closed November of Emma's junior year. This is even when two more girls surfaced and reported that they were sexually assaulted by the same person. The person who sexually abused Emma and these two other girls are still at the campus living life as usual. In fact, the authorities at the university even brought down the verdict that the person who violate Emma and these two other girls is not responsible for their rape.
For this, Emma has decided to take her plea to a different level. The burden that has been sitting on her heart as the effect of the assault on top of her plea that fell on deaf ears became a literal burden for her to carry. Emma went around the university carrying the mattress she was raped on. She carries it to all of her classes. She carries the mattress wherever she eats her meals. She carries the mattress to just everywhere she went.
Even when all the carrying took a toll on her body to the point that all of her muscles ache and getting out of bed became another burden, Emma is strong in her decision that she will go on carrying the said mattress until her attacker is expelled from the university or until he exits voluntarily.
Another art student by the name of Allie Rickard took interest in Emma's protest. With this, Allie rallied her community to help Emma carry her mattress around school. As for Allie, this is so much more than helping the other girl with her tangible load. This is taking part in a daily protest that hopes to end the culture of rape and other forms of sexual assault in their university.