<p>I doubt Amherst fosters its rape culture consciously – there are probably no smoking guns to be found. But it obviously tolerates a culture where male students feel comfortable designing and wearing heinously misogynistic, degrading apparel. As I said in an earlier post, such behavior does not occur in a vacuum, nor would it possibly occur at other similarly esteemed LACs. So despite all its virtues, there is something rotten at the core of Amherst and it will take more than nicely written emails or commissions or studies to have it eradicated. There must be a fundamental rethinking of the way this institution conducts business from its very mission, to faculty hiring to admissions to alcohol policy and enforcement, etc. For that to happen, there must be a true acceptance of this endemic problem; until that happens, the likelihood of progress remains low.</p>