Hundreds of angry college women went to the mattresses Wednesday as protests erupted over the handling of sexual-abuse claims🌠 at Columbia University and other area⛄ schools.
Some 200 demonstrators piled up dozens of mattresses outside the home of Columbia President Lee Bollinger to symbolize their rage over what they feel is t⛄he mishandling of rape cases by administrators.
Among the crowd was Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia senior who sparked the wave of mattress protests when she started hauling bedding around tไhe Morningside Heights campus in August to show her fury that a man she says raped her had not been expelled from the school.
The Columbia 🎃protesters stacked 28 mattresses at about 4:30 p.m., and then taped a list of demands to the door of Bollinger’s Morningside Dr🏅ive residence.
The mattresses represent the number of students who have fil🐬ed complaints against Columbia and its enforcement of Title IX, the legislation that guarantees equal rights in higher education.
The matꦯtresses had red tape on them to sym﷽bolize bureaucratic complexities of filing sex-assault claims the, protesters said.
“𓂃We are going to keep pressure on Columbia and this administration. The changes they’ve made have only been symbolic,” said Zoe Ridolpi-Starr. “They need to ⛦listen to what survivors say.”
Sulkowicz’s accused rapist was found not guilty by a school panel, but she says the case was mishandle♚d by Columbia and she plans to carry her mattress everywhere on campus until she or her attacker lea꧒ve school.
Yesterday, her protest ꧋spread to schools in the city and New J🐼ersey as women at NYU, Fordham, Brooklyn College and Rutgers held a series of demonstrations called “Carry that Weight.”
A Columbia spokeswoman said the school welcomed the protest, even though activis🌳ts blame the university leaders for failing to do more to stop violence.
“Student activism here and arཧound the nation has played in important role in encouraging these efforts,” the rep said.