A 21-year-old visual arts student at Columbia University carried, with help, a mattress on stage recently to accept her diploma as part of a semester-long protest against the university, which she claims failed to take action against a fellow student who raped her!

According to eonline.com, Emma Sulkowicz claims the university mishandled her claims of an an on-campus rape, taking the protest to the next level.

“She made national news last fall when she began a very unusual senior thesis. Sulkowicz was raped in her dorm room during her sophomore year at the college, and despite reporting the crime to campus police and the existence of several other victims who reported rapes by the same assailant, her case was dismissed by Columbia. As a protest, she set out to carry her mattress with her everywhere she went, so long as she was still forced to attend school alongside her rapist.”

The alleged perpetrator, who was not charged, turned around and sued the university, claiming it was slandering his name and good reputation.