Emma Sulkowicz, the student who alleges she was raped, got international media attention when she carried the mattress to and from class at Columbia University every day to protest how the school handled her sexual assault complaint against Paul Nungesser, her alleged rapist. Nungesser’s suit claims Columbia University is responsible for the “intimidating, hostile, demeaning ... learning and living environment” he endured as a student there because the school, among other things, allowed Sulkowicz to make the “Mattress Project” part of her senior thesis.