Paul Nungesser, the man accused of sexual assault by Emma Sulkowicz, aka Mattress Girl, has lost his second lawsuit against Columbia.
The lawsuit contended that Columbia violated Nungesser’s Title IX rights and two state laws after it improperly handled Sulkowicz’s public campaign to get Nungesser removed from campus. Judge Gregory Woods dismissed the case Friday “with prejudice,” prohibiting Nungesser from filing similar lawsuits in the future.
Nungesser accused Columbia of participating in a campaign of “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive” harassment, despite the university finding him not responsible for assaulting Sulkowicz.
Following the university’s decision not to discipline Nungesser, Sulkowicz garnered national attention by carrying a mattress around Columbia’s campus for her senior thesis art piece, “Carry That Weight.” Sulkowicz said she would carry the mattress under Nungesser left or was removed from campus.
Back in January, Heat Street ran a piece by a Columbia student criticizing the “alarmism” at Columbia following the incident. In response to Sulkowicz’s allegations, the university opened up a second rape crisis center and instituted mandatory “sexual respect workshops.”
In his lawsuit, Nungesser said he was a “male victim of gender-based harassment,” whereas Woods contended that there was no proof Sulkowicz’s actions “were motivated by gender.”
Nungesser’s attorney, Andrew Miltenberg, pledged to appeal the ruling.
“From the outset of this case, Judge Woods has been dead set against Paul Nungesser, which is further evidenced by his flawed reasoning in finding that the 101 page, extraordinarily detailed, Second Amended Complaint contains no viable causes of action,” Miltenberg said.
As of January, Sulkowicz worked as a performance artist in Philadelphia. Visitors to the Philadelphia Contemporary gallery can see her “parafictional medical clinic” where she proves “a revolutionary cure for human desire.”
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