Columbia Student Accused of Rape Speaks Publicly for the First Time
LatestColumbia University student Emma Sulkowicz’s project Carry That Weight has galvanized both her college peers and the nation at large. Her story has been a linchpin for a year that brought about a dramatic increase (for better and worse) in reporting and conversations about sexual assault at college. Now, her alleged rapist has spoken out for the first time.
Identified by the New York Times‘ Ariel Kaminer, student Paul Nungesser’s name has, as the article made clear, already been known in many circles, at Columbia and by those who had access to the original, uncensored “Rapist List” put up by Columbia students. His name was also reported by The Columbia Spectator in May; after that piece came out, the editors explained their reasoning in naming him, pointing out that Sulkowicz had filed a police report about the alleged rape so Nungesser’s identity was “publicly available.”
In Kaminer’s article, Nungesser comes off much the way other alleged rapists on college campuses who have chosen to speak out do – as someone who is attempting to garner sympathy but who finds themselves caught up in asserting that the nonconsensual sexual contact–a term colleges love–he had with the three partners (Sulkowitz; a woman who said Nungesser groped her until she forced him off her and a former girlfriend who alleges repeat abuse) was all consensual.