The Amherst College men's cross country team is under investigation for a series of sexually explicit, racist, misogynistic and homophobic messages that have surfaced.

The Indicator, an Amherst student publication, first reported the messages in detail on Sunday. Reportedly, current and past members of the team maintained an email chain, many directed toward incoming freshmen.

In the messages, one woman was called "a walking STD," while a member of the team was described as such: "Sure, when you first meet him you may think: "Woah, is that dude in the trench coat going to rape me?"

Amherst College has retained former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice John M. Greaney to help with the investigation, and Amherst President Carolyn "Biddy" Martin called the messages "appalling" in a statement. 

"They are not only vulgar, they are cruel and hateful," Martin said in the statement. "No attempt to rationalize them will change that. My reaction is one of profound sadness, disappointment, and anger."

The authors of the Indicator article, Helen Mayer, Sam Wohlforth, and Daniel Ahn, said in an additional editorial that they were "motivated" to write a follow-up piece, because they "believe that the national conversation started by Donald Trump's 'locker room talk' comments has added precious little to the conversation around sexual violence and athlete culture."

Members of the Amherst team released a statement to the Indicator on Monday: "These conversations have real consequences beyond members of our team, and we pledge to work with the Amherst community to change our team culture for the better."

The team placed 12th at the NCAA DIII cross country championships on November 21. Amherst suspended the team after the Indicator article, and the suspension will continue into the indoor track season while the investigation occurs. 

Martin is encouraging anyone with information on the messages to submit a report at amherst.edu/go/reporting.

This is not the first NCAA team to be punished in 2016. The Harvard men's soccer team's season was cancelled in November after documents revealed the men producing vulgar and inappropriate "scouting reports" that rated women based on their appearance. In December, the Harvard Crimson reported that the men's cross country team was placed on "athletic probation" after reports of the team creating spreadsheets with sexually explicit comments directed toward the women's program surfaced. Members of the Columbia wrestling team were suspended in November after crude and "racially insensitive" text messages were exposed.