紐時賞析／川普凍結校園資金…美國多校大學領袖站出來 聯手打破沉默

美國紐約曼哈頓哥倫比亞大學校區上月校園一景。該大學也參與了數百所大學聲明，公開反對白宮對高等教育所採取限制行動。紐約時報

Breaking Silence, Colleges Organize to Fight Trump

打破集體沉默 美國大學團結對抗川普

The Trump administration’s swift initial rollout of orders seeking more control over universities left schools thunderstruck. Fearing retribution from a president known to retaliate against his enemies, most leaders in higher education responded in February with silence.

川普政府迅速推出行政命令，尋求對大學進行更多控制，令各大學極其震驚。由於憂心這名以睚眥必報惡名昭彰的總統祭出重罰，大多數高等教育的領袖2月時保持沉默。

But after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was a statement last week signed by more than 400 campus leaders opposing what they saw as the administration’s assault on academia.

但在幾星期內目睹政府凍結數十億聯邦資金、要求修改政策並開始展開調查後，一個由大學領袖組成、公開反對這些舉措的大聯盟開始成形。最明顯的證據，是上週有超過400位校園領導人聯署聲明，反對他們視爲政府對學術界的攻擊。

Although organizations of colleges and administrators regularly conduct meetings on a wide range of issues, the statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities was an unusual show of unity considering the wide cross-section of interests it included: Ivy League institutions and community colleges, public flagship schools and Jesuit universities, regional schools and historically Black colleges.

儘管大學與行政人員的組織經常針對各種議題舉行會議，但「美國大學與學院協會」的這份聲明，基於其中包含的廣泛利益代表，仍是不同尋常的團結展現：從常春藤盟校與社區大學，到公立旗艦學校與耶穌會大學，區域性學校與傳統的黑人學院。

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the statement said.

聲明表示：「我們以同一個聲音反對前所未見的政府越權與政治干預，這些行爲正危及美國的高等教育。」

Although it contained no concrete action, and what’s next was unclear, the collective stance reflected a group more galvanized than ever to resist.

雖然聲明中未包含具體行動計劃，未來發展也尚不明朗，但這種集體立場展現出一個比以往更爲團結、準備反抗的羣體。

“When we are teaming up with higher ed across the board, it’s more than just about what the elite think,” Richard Lyons, chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview after the school signed on. “At some level, that really disparate, wide-angle, wonderful group of colleges and universities that signed the message, I find quite heartening.”

「當我們與整個高教界並肩作戰時，這已經不僅僅是關於菁英階層的想法，」柏克萊加州大學校長萊昂斯在簽署聲明後受訪時說。「某種程度上，這個多樣、廣角且令人振奮的大學與學院聯合團體，讓我感到非常鼓舞。」

The joint statement from university leaders, many of them energized by Harvard University’s confrontation with the Trump administration, emerged even after higher education associations and a handful of universities filed lawsuits fighting cuts to funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Energy Department. And heads of colleges had been talking and meeting with one another more frequently than they had since the COVID-19 pandemic, with some engaged in discussions in Washington.

這份由大學領袖聯合發出的聲明——其中許多人受到哈佛大學與川普政府衝突的激勵——是在高等教育協會與一些大學已經針對國家衛生研究院與能源部削減資金提出訴訟後發表的。而且，大學校長們之間的對話與會面，比自新冠疫情以來任何時候都更爲頻繁，部分人已在華府展開相關討論。

文／Stephanie Saul and Alan Blinder　譯／羅方妤