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As a result of her protest, which is also her senior art thesis, Sulkowicz herself has become the face of a national movement to raise awareness about sexual assault.

She attended the State of the Union address this year as the guest of Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who is pushing a bill that would require every college to survey its students about their experience with sexual violence, create a uniform disciplinary process for accusations of assault and give law enforcement agencies a greater role.

Minutes before Sulkowicz walked across the stage, Paul Nungesser, the student she has accused of rape, did so as well, to little response from the crowd.

Nungesser, who was cleared by the university and has maintained that their sexual encounter was consensual, filed a federal discrimination suit last month against the school, Bollinger and the professor who approved Sulkowicz’s thesis project, saying he has been the victim of a harassment campaign.

One of the rules Sulkowicz set for her project was that she would carry the mattress whenever she was on campus until Nungesser was no longer there.

The ceremony on Tuesday was on Class Day for seniors at Columbia College. The university-wide commencement is Wednesday, but Sulkowicz said Tuesday she was done with her project.

As for what will become of the mattress, which she bought online, she said she would hang onto it.

“If some sort of museum wants to buy it, then I’m open to that,” she said, “but I’m not going to just throw it away.”