<p>if there’s no culture of rape at Amherst, then why the threads and all the postings here? Does anyone here recall the reports of the misogynistic, hateful t-shirts worn by male students there? Did I invent that too? The sexual assaults, administrative indifference/insensitivity and trumpeting of toxic heteronormative attitudes do not exist in a vacuum, but are rather tacitly encouraged by an environment and dominant culture that has likely not adapted to the norms of this century, but are rather stuck in a Mitt Romney like view of the proper power relations between men and women. There is no other way to explain the events reported in the national media such as The New York Times. </p>
<p>pollyocheese, your denials smack of a lack of acceptance of a pervasive problem, an unfortunate attitude which if existing in more powerful places, such at the Amherst Board, for example, will only delay the solution to this unfortunate problem at a reputedly fine institution of higher learning. </p>
<p>If I were associated with Amherst in any way, which I am not, I would rightly be embarrassed and mortified by the stain which is now spreading over Amherst’s reputation in the academic and prospective student community. I’m sorry those vested as stakeholders in Amherst are suffering now, but this pain was self-inflicted, by all accounts.</p>