Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz donned her cap and gown Tuesday, joining fellow graduating classmates at the school's College Class Day.

She was also carrying a twin-sized mattress.

Sulkowicz has been lugging the mattress across Columbia University's Manhattan campus since September as part of a senior visual arts thesis called "Carry that Weight." She vowed to carry the mattress to represent the weight she carries after she was allegedly raped in her dorm room during her sophomore year.

She brought the mattress onto the stage with her on Tuesday with the help of friends, and received applause from the crowd.

Emma Sulkowicz took her mattress up to the stage to lots of applause at #ccclassday2015 pic.twitter.com/1hTviv7UsU — Teo Armus (@teoarmus) May 19, 2015

Emma Sulkowicz carrying her mattress across the stage at #ColumbiaCommencement pic.twitter.com/oF9sYwVYKX — Tess Koman (@tessie_the_mess) May 19, 2015

Her mattress has been her constant companion throughout her senior year and has become a symbol of the endemic sexual assault on college campuses.

Sulkowicz carried her mattress during the College Class Day procession on Tuesday, which honors individual students in the undergraduate arts and sciences college within Columbia University ahead of the wider commencement on Wednesday. In September, she said she would carry the mattress until her alleged rapist, a fellow student, was no longer allowed on campus.

"Rape can happen anywhere, for me I was raped in my own dorm bed," Sulkowicz said in a video posted to the Columbia Spectator in September. "I feel like I’ve carried the weight of what happened there with me everywhere since then."

When the project first began, Sulkowicz said she expected to be carrying the mattress until graduation day if the university did not take action against her alleged attacker.

While one of her self-imposed rules was to not ask for help carrying the mattress, she said she would accept help if someone offered to carry the mattress with her. On Tuesday, fellow students pitched in to help Sulkowicz bear the weight of the standard dorm room mattress as she walked toward the ceremony.

"For me, it’s an endurance performance art piece," said Sulkowicz. "Honestly, I am not as nervous about carrying a mattress around as I am with the attention that it’s gotten."

Sulkowicz and her fellow students were reportedly told not to bring large objects to the ceremony. Sulkowicztold student journalist Teo Armus that she did not receive any specific directions to leave the mattress at home.

After emailing students not to bring "large objects" to Class Day, Columbia allowed Emma Sulkowicz to carry mattress in procession. — Kate Taylor (@katetaylornyt) May 19, 2015

Sulkowicz says she was raped by the Columbia student in August 2012 when she was a sophomore. She filed a complaint against her alleged attacker the following year with campus authorities, but he was never charged. A subsequent complaint filed with the New York Police Department in the spring of 2014 also resulted in no charges. She also filed a Title IX complaint against the university with the U.S. Department of Education.

She was one of a handful of signatories who claim that the school violated their rights by not responding to sexual assault complaints.

The student who was named as Sulkowicz's alleged rapist has also filed a Title IX suit against Colombia University, claiming the complaint "damaged, if not effectively destroyed" his reputation.

A Columbia University spokesperson previously issued a statement declining to comment due to federal student privacy law.