NEW YORK, April 24 (UPI) -- A Columbia University student accused of raping a classmate -- who in turn carries a mattress around campus in a very public campaign to protest the handling of the alleged assault -- filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League school.

Paul Nungesser claims the university, which ultimately cleared him in the case, failed to protect him from a "harassment campaign" by Emma Sulkowicz, who carries a mattress around campus in her "Carry that Weight" campaign to protest the way the university handled the alleged assault.


Nungesser, a German citizen, said the university's "effective sponsorship" of gender-based harassment and defamation resulted in intimidation and hurt his chances of getting a job in the United States.

"By refusing to protect Paul Nungesser," the lawsuit says, "Columbia University first became a silent bystander and then turned into an active supporter of a fellow student's harassment campaign by institutionalizing it and heralding it."

Sulkowicz drew national attention in September when she began carrying the mattress everywhere she went to protest the university's decision not to expel Nungesser. Nungesser said the sex was consensual.