"Have We Learned Anything From the Columbia Rape Case?"

This is a longish NYT Magazine article by Emily Bazelon. Is there anything new here or is this more of a summary of a problem � a conflict � that those of us who've been following the story already know?

1. How Nungesser's parents felt at graduation: It was "devastating," they say, "especially... an exhibition at a university gallery...  that included Sulkowicz�s prints of a naked man with an obscenity and of a couple having sex, inked over a copy of a Times article about Nungesser." I'm a little confused by the word "prints." Prints like etchings or lithographs? Sulkowicz � in email (I think to Bazelon) � called the "prints" "cartoons."

2. Sulkowicz's email gives some insight into the kind of rhetoric she is purveying: "What are the functions of cartoons? Do they depict the people themselves (a feat which, if you�ve done enough reading on art theory, you will realize is impossible), or do they illustrate the stories that have circulated about a person?" Suddenly, I'm thinking about the Charlie Hebdo massacre and other incidents involving cartoons depicting Muhammad. Maybe those who get murderous over cartoons just haven't read enough art theory. And I'm put off by the assertion that if only people would read the right amount of a prescribed sort of material, we'd necessarily believe a particular sort of thing. It's saying: The only reason you don't already agree with me is that you're ignorant.

3.  And I don't even understand how those 2 sentences in Sulkowicz's email addressed the pain experienced by Nungesser's parents. Aside from the parenthetical, which is an assertion, the 2 sentences are 2 questions, but the first question sets up the second question, and the second question is an either/or question, within which the first option is negated by the assertion in the parenthetical. Therefore, Sulkowicz really is saying her cartoons "illustrate the stories that have circulated about a person." So her art work is an illustration added to a NYT story that gives graphic reality to the allegations that were made about Nungesser.

4. I wrote "gives graphic reality to" because I was straining to avoid the word that normally comes to mind: depict. Not having read enough art theory to realize that it is impossible to depict Nungesser himself, I thought the use of that word might make me look ignorant to those who have done the homework. But, for the record, "depict" means "To draw, figure, or represent in colours; to paint; also, in wider sense, to portray, delineate, figure anyhow." Anyhow! As in "The solar progress is depicted by the Hindoos, by a circle of intertwining serpents." R. J. Sulivan View of Nature II. xliv. 288  (1794). (Definition and quote via the unlinkable OED.)

5. Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger avoided shaking Sulkowicz's hand at graduation and the university has taken the position that it wasn't actual shunning but the mattress getting in the way. Bazelon doesn't come out and call bullshit, but she links to the video so we can decide for ourselves.

6. Because we don't have the transcript of Columbia's disciplinary proceedings, "even the procedural disputes between Sulkowicz and Nungesser are lost in the land of she-said-he-said." Sulkowicz says she was asked "ignorant and insensitive questions." (That's Bazelon's paraphrase.) But we're not seeing the actual context. And Sulkowicz and Nungesser are saying different things about whether their friendly Facebook conversations were admitted as evidence. It's frustrating to have this matter become so public � through Sulkowicz's performance art � and then be deprived of the transcript, but Columbia has to protect student privacy and to encourage other students to feel secure that their privacy will be protected if they need to file a complaint or if they are accused.

7. Columbia is trying to improve its procedure: "Students are now permitted to bring a lawyer to their hearings, and if they can�t afford an attorney, the university will provide one. The university also hired new investigators and other staff members and gave training on how to hear cases to the administrators who serve as panelists."

8. Sulkowicz says "the system is broken because it is so much based on proof that a lot of rape survivors don�t have." And: "Even if you have physical evidence, you can prove that violence occurred but not that someone didn�t want the sex to be violent." Presumably, she wants to fix the system by avoiding the need to prove things that are too hard to prove. Here, that would be the mental element that accompanies the sexual act. But how can you possibly get rid of the need for that evidence?

9. Some people say, get rape cases out of university proceedings and into the criminal justice system. Bazelon's response to that is: "[I]n the eyes of the government, universities have this responsibility because of an important principle rooted in the federal law, Title IX: If a rape prevents a victim from taking full advantage of her education, then it is a civil rights violation as well as a crime." Quite aside from what statutory law requires, universities may properly see themselves as having a role in making the campus environment a safer and friendlier place. Bazelon refers to counseling, academic accommodations, assurances that alleged assailants won�t contact complainants, and education about prevention of sexual assaults.

10. Bazelon mentions early on that Nungesser is suing Columbia, but she doesn't connect that to other issues she discusses. She doesn't say that his lawsuit is based on Title IX (though, as you see in point #9, she says that Title IX causes universities to want to remain involved in providing remedies to victims). And she talks about Bollinger's avoidance of Sulkowicz at graduation (point #5, above) without saying that Bollinger is a named defendant in Nungesser's lawsuit.

Atena Farghadani, 28, went on trial in Iran for drawing this.

The cartoon depicts members of the Iranian parliament voting on a ban on IUDs and vasectomies. The charges are "spreading propaganda against the system; insulting members of parliament through paintings; and insulting the supreme leader."

The trial took place on Tuesday, but the judge will not give his decision for at least a week.

"One of the two gunmen in a Garland, Texas, attack on a cartoon contest featuring images of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed has been identified as Elton Simpson..."

"... a federal law enforcement source told CNN. The source said Simpson is thought to have sent a tweet before the attack with the hashtag #texasattack. 'May Allah accept us as mujahideen,' the tweet read in part."

Elton Simpson � sounds like the name of a character in a cartoon. I picture him looking like this:


But he looked like this.

Hillary's Everyday People theme continues: Her van is named "Scooby."

The Guardian offers a tidbit about the road trip (which we are already discussing in the previous post):

The campaign also leaked other snippets intended to humanise the trip, including that the former first lady had nicknamed the van �Scooby� because it resembles the vehicle from the cartoon.

It is unclear whether the folksy narrative will immediately alter perceptions of Clinton, who has been at the top of the political elite, as first lady, senator and secretary of state, for more than two decades....

Clinton�s current location and planned itinerary is unknown. However, she is scheduled to arrive at a community college in Monticello shortly after 1pm on Tuesday, for what the first in what her campaign is billing as a series of �conversations with everyday Iowans.�

See? There's that word again � "everyday" (the adjective).

I pulled out the "Everyday People" theme, I said in the previous post, not only because Hillary is striving to seem like one of the common people, but also because "When I hear 'everyday' used as an adjective, I think of the song 'Everyday People' by Sly and the Family Stone." Well! I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that the van was named "Scooby." You may think only about the cartoon "Scooby-Doo," but the name "Scooby-Doo" comes from the song "Everyday People." The song has a line � repeated 3 times � "And different strokes for different folks/And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo." "Scooby-Doo," the cartoon, began in 1969. "Everyday People," the song, was a big hit in 1968, when Hillary Clinton was 21....



Now, get in the van. Oh sha sha, we got to live together....

"What free speech absolutists have failed to acknowledge is that because one has the right to offend a group does not mean that one must."

"Or that that group gives up the right to be outraged. They�re allowed to feel pain. Freedom should always be discussed within the context of responsibility. At some point free expression absolutism becomes childish and unserious. It becomes its own kind of fanaticism.... Writing satire is a privilege I�ve never taken lightly. And I�m still trying to get it right."

Says Garry Trudeau.

"Apologies to my wife, but Penny, my miniature poodle, is my world."

"She�s been the inspiration for countless cartoons...."

"This is a 'lllove llletter' to MELL LAZARUS, brilliant cartoonist of 'Miss Peach' and 'Momma'..."

"... who has always dreamed of being in a Times puzzle. His ambition was more modest, thinking the unusual double L of MELL would be enough...."

MORE: Here.

ELSEWHERE: "... based on the overwhelming soul-crushing awfulness of having Momma as her mother-in-law, she�s decided to go full-on goth. The filthy house is not so much a lifestyle choice as a side effect of the overwhelming depression."