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Wednesday April 17, 5.10am: On waking up, I turn to the student-run Columbia Daily Spectator, my go-to source for campus coverage. It has just posted a story about a new encampment on the South Lawn. University president Minouche Shafik is due to testify later this morning in Washington before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce: campus has been ID-entry only since the start of the week. When it gets light, I walk over and see that about 30 small tents have sprouted in front of the library. A sign declares the east section of the South Lawn a Liberated Zone. I head off for breakfast wondering what the day holds.
4月17日,星期三,早上5点10分: 醒来后,我就翻阅由学生运营的《哥伦比亚每日观察家》(Columbia Daily Spectator),这是我获取校园新闻的首选来源。它刚刚发布了一篇关于南草坪(South Lawn)新营地的报道。大学校长米努什•沙菲克(Minouche Shafik)今天上午晚些时候将在华盛顿向众议院教育和劳动力委员会作证:从本周开始,校园只能凭身份证进入。天亮后,我走过去一看,发现图书馆前已经支起了约30顶小帐篷。一块告示牌宣布南草坪东段为解放区。我去吃早餐,心想今天会有什么新的变化。
Great American universities such as Columbia are world leaders and repositories of extraordinary learning. But trouble has been brewing at home for some time. Despite the diversity of views that exists at Columbia and elsewhere, they are seen in many quarters as strongholds of liberal views. With the culture wars heating up, it was only a matter of time before they too became embroiled.
像哥伦比亚这样的美国顶尖大学是世界的领导者,也是非凡学识的宝库。然而,国内的问题已经酝酿了一段时间。尽管在哥伦比亚和其他地方存在着各种各样的观点,但在许多方面,它们被视为自由主义观点的大本营。随着文化战争的升温,他们迟早也会被卷入其中。
Wednesday April 17, mid-morning: I watch online as President Shafik, along with a former Law School dean and two university trustees, enter the Washington bear pit. I soon see they have learnt from the previous debacle in December when three major university leaders, overly coached by lawyers, stumbled to say whether calls for genocide contravened their codes of conduct. The messaging of the Columbia team is: we recognise we have a big problem of antisemitism on our hands and we will fix it.
4月17日,星期三上午:我在网上观察着沙菲克校长,一位前任法学院院长和两位大学董事一起进入华盛顿这个龙潭虎穴。我很快就发现他们已经从去年12月的惨败中吸取了教训,那时三位主要的大学领导人在律师的过度指导下,结结巴巴地说不清楚对种族灭绝的呼吁是否违反了他们的行为准则。哥伦比亚团队的信息传递是:我们承认我们手头有一个严重的反犹太主义问题,我们将会解决它。
It seems to work: the initial headlines suggest heads will not roll this time. But I see a couple of difficulties with their strategy. First, they concede too much to their questioners: antisemitism is not a fantasy but they have exaggerated its scale on campus probably to ensure easy acceptance. Second, they should not be passing judgment on individual faculty members. It is one thing to admit there are issues on campus; another to invite politicians to help you solve them.
这似乎有效:最初的头条新闻暗示这次不会有人被炒鱿鱼。但我看到他们的策略有几个问题。首先,他们对提问者过于让步:反犹太主义并非虚构,但他们可能为了确保容易被接受,而夸大了其在校园中的规模。其次,他们不应对单个教职员工进行评判。承认校园存在问题是一回事,邀请政治家来帮助解决问题则是另一回事。
The worst crisis to roil American universities since the Vietnam era began back in October. In the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza by the IDF, protests and counter-protests on college campuses gathered in intensity. At the time of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s first hearing into antisemitism, the occasion that led to the resignation of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia president Shafik was abroad. Now it is her turn.
自越南战争以来,美国大学面临的最严重的危机始于去年10月。在哈马斯(Hamas)对以色列的袭击和以色列国防军(IDF)随后对加沙的入侵之后,大学校园的抗议和反抗议活动愈演愈烈。在众议院教育和劳动力委员会首次就反犹太主义问题举行听证会的时候,这个场合导致了两位常春藤联盟(Ivy League)校长的辞职,而当时哥伦比亚校长沙菲克正在国外。现在,轮到她了。
Wednesday April 17, 8.25pm: As night falls, sirens wail outside. Dozens of police and their vans have appeared on 116th Street. The main campus gates are now closed and we have to use the 117th Street entrance. Outside, a large group of presumably non-Columbia protesters are shouting slogans to support the protesters inside. I bump into a colleague who tells me the police are about to clear activists off the South Lawn.
4月17日,星期三,晚上8点25分夜幕降临,外面警笛声此起彼伏。数十名警察和他们的警车已经在116街集结。主校区的大门现已关闭,我们只能从117街的入口进入。在外面,一大群可能并非哥伦比亚的抗议者正在高喊口号,以支持校内的抗议者。我偶遇一位同事,他告诉我警察即将清理南草坪上的抗议活动人士。
On campus it is much quieter. But compared with this morning, there is a large crowd in the encampment and more students are standing around it. There is anticipation in the air and the excitement of being part of a movement. But there is apprehension too: people have heard the rumour that the police are moving in. A student with a megaphone is telling the others what to do in the event of arrest and everyone is learning their lines: Don’t resist. Hand over your ID. Don’t say anything without a lawyer.
校园里安静了许多。但与今天早上相比,营地里人头攒动,更多的学生站在周围。空气中充满了期待感和参与运动的兴奋。但也存在一种忧虑:人们听说警察可能会来。一个拿着扩音器的学生正在告诉其他人如果被逮捕该怎么做,每个人都在记住自己的台词:不要反抗。交出你的身份证。在没有律师在场的情况下,什么都不要说。
Crises in the Middle East tend to play out here with unusual intensity. For years, the university was home to probably the best-known and most influential Palestinian intellectual in the world, Edward Said, and its leadership defended him against numerous attacks in the press. It has a great tradition as a world leader in Jewish studies and a highly diverse and international student body. There have been tensions and strains on campus in the past among faculty, students and administrators over the issues roiling the Middle East. But since I have been here Columbia has invariably followed the basic institutional principle of academic life that the university should govern itself, and the crises that arose from time to time were dealt with accordingly.
中东的危机往往在这里以异常激烈的方式展开。多年来,这所大学一直是世界上最知名、最有影响力的巴勒斯坦知识分子爱德华•萨义德(Edward Said)的家园,其领导层曾在媒体的多次攻击下保护他。该校在犹太研究领域有着卓越的传统,同时拥有高度多元化和国际化的学生群体。过去,校园内曾因中东问题而出现教职员工、学生和管理人员之间的紧张和压力。但自从我来到这里以来,哥伦比亚始终遵循学术生活的基本制度原则,即大学应自我管理,并相应地处理时而出现的危机。
Food is distributed to students on April 18 during the protests at Columbia University
4月18日,在哥伦比亚大学的抗议活动期间,食物被分发给学生们
Thursday April 18, 2.30pm: 114th Street is blocked off east of Broadway. From the steps of Low Library I see police arresting the students on South Lawn. Others watch, unable to help. There is no violence, but one feels the mood shifting. People who yesterday felt sympathy for President Shafik are now appalled; I am among them. Her action is precipitate: something similar happened here in 1968, after protests and sit-ins, but the university leadership agonised before taking such a dramatic and unpredictable step. I ask myself: how is this supposed to end the stand-off? The people ordering it don’t seem to understand students and think they can bully them into submission. Have they ever taught them? I predict those remaining will simply move to the west side of South Lawn. And then they will move elsewhere.
4月18日星期四,下午2点30分: 百老汇东边的114街被封锁了。站在Low图书馆的台阶上,我看到警察正在南草坪上逮捕学生。旁观者无法提供帮助。尽管没有暴力发生,但我能感受到气氛正在转变。昨天还对沙菲克校长表示同情的人们,今天却对她的行为感到震惊;我也是其中之一。她的行动太过草率:回想1968年,抗议和静坐之后,这里也曾发生过类似的事,但那时大学领导层在采取如此戏剧性和不可预测的步骤前,经过了深思熟虑。我在想,这种对峙怎样才能结束呢?下达命令的人似乎并不了解学生,认为可以通过强硬手段使他们屈服。他们真的了解学生吗?我预计,剩下的学生很可能会直接转移到南草坪的西侧,之后或许还会转移到其他地方。
It has not helped that the university is being led by newcomers. President Shafik made her inaugural speech to Columbia only on October 4. A chief operating officer, the first in our history, started in February and appears to have little or no experience of academic governance. The new provost arrived only this month. In short, key leaders have no institutional memory nor much knowledge of the university. Worse, they give every impression of seeing themselves as the problem-solvers, and the institution they lead as a set of problems. In reality Columbia is more than a set of problems; it is home to thoughtful faculty and students.
这所大学由新来的领导人管理,并未带来积极影响。沙菲克校长在10月4日才向哥伦比亚大学发表了她的就职演讲。我们历史上的首位首席运营官于二月份上任,似乎几乎没有任何学术治理经验。新任教务长也是在这个月才到职。简而言之,这些关键领导人既缺乏对机构的历史记忆,对大学的了解也非常有限。更糟的是,他们似乎将自己视为问题的解决者,而将其领导的机构视为一系列问题。然而,实际上哥伦比亚大学远不仅是问题的集合,它是一个充满思考的教师和学生的家园。
Friday April 19, afternoon: One student tells me it was crazy to call in the police. Another finds it scary to know they could come in again. I hear the same from others, of diverse backgrounds, nationalities and faiths.
4月19日,星期五下午: 一名学生告诉我,叫警察来实在是太疯狂了。另一名学生则觉得他们可能再次出现的想法令人恐惧。我从其他具有不同背景、国籍和信仰的人那里也听到了同样的观点。
Saturday April 20, just before noon: My morning ritual with the FT Weekend is interrupted by the din outside. A small rowdy group of demonstrators just beyond the farmers’ market, non-Columbia folk, are penned outside the locked gate on 115th Street, yelling pro-Palestinian slogans and banging away on homemade percussion. I feel sorry for the police who have to stand there and get deafened and insulted. In front of them a large man draped in an Israeli flag is striding provocatively up and down yelling slogans in their face. Much of the external pontification about what is happening at Columbia is based on the craziness going on here, outside the gates. Those you see on television are mostly not Columbia students.
4月20日,星期六,正午前夕: 我每天早晨阅读FT周末的习惯被外面的喧闹声打断了。农贸市场外,一小群闹哄哄的示威者——他们不是哥伦比亚大学的人——被围在第115街锁着的大门外,他们高喊支持巴勒斯坦的口号,敲打着自制的打击乐器。我为那些必须站在那里,耳朵几乎要聋,还要忍受侮辱的警察感到难过。他们面前,一个身披以色列国旗的高大男子挑衅地在他们面前来回走动,大声喊叫。哥伦比亚大学外的这些疯狂场景,很大程度上成了外界评判这里所发生事情的依据。电视上你看到的多数人,并非哥伦比亚的学生。
The campus protests are directed against Israeli policy. But the argument that any criticism of Israel is tantamount to antisemitism is simply false
校园抗议活动是针对以色列的政策。然而,将任何对以色列的批评都视为反犹太主义的观点,这种说法是完全错误的。
After the racket outside, it is refreshingly quiet on campus. Sure enough, the protesting students have moved to the west side of South Lawn and there are now several hundred of them there, with piles of blankets as they have been forbidden tents. Dozens of little hand-painted slogans are lying on the grass; I take a close look and none that I can see strikes me as offensive. I bump into a colleague, a social scientist who was until recently a senior administrator. No rabble-rouser, he feels President Shafik erred badly in her discussion of individual faculty members. There is going to be a large gathering on the steps of Low Library on Monday to call for a return to basic principles of academic governance.
经过外面的喧嚣之后,校园里的宁静让人感到清新。果然,抗议的学生们已经转移到了南草坪的西侧,现在那里已经聚集了几百人,他们堆着毯子,因为他们被禁止搭帐篷。草地上散落着几十个手绘的标语;我仔细看了看,没有一个让我觉得冒犯。我碰到了一位同事,他是一位社会科学家,直到最近还是一名高级行政人员。他并不是煽动者,但他认为沙菲克校长在讨论个别教师时犯了严重错误。周一将在Low图书馆的台阶上举行一次大型集会,呼吁恢复学术治理的基本原则。
On Broadway an undergraduate I know, from the Midwest, tells me what they think about it all. They reflect for a moment. “It feels like a powerful moment,” they say. “It probably won’t lead to change but it might.” They like the solidarity of the students on the lawn, the mix of faiths and views. It is students such as this who give me hope.
在百老汇,我认识的一位来自中西部的本科生向我表达了他们对这一切的看法。他们沉思了一会儿,然后说:“这感觉像是一个充满力量的时刻,可能不会带来改变,但也有可能会。”他们欣赏草坪上学生们的团结精神,以及各种信仰和观点的交融。正是这样的学生让我充满希望。
Antisemitism as a concept is both highly charged and deeply opaque, and there is no agreement among scholars on how the term should be used. So let us start with a simple definition: prejudice against Jews. This has been around for centuries, and no doubt it is to be found on university campuses. The real questions are: in what degree and with what implications? The campus protests are directed against Israeli policy. But the argument that any criticism of Israel is tantamount to antisemitism is simply false.
反犹太主义作为一个概念,既充满争议又深度模糊,学者们对于这个词的使用并没有达成共识。那么,让我们从一个简单的定义开始:对犹太人的偏见。这种偏见已经存在了几个世纪,毫无疑问,它也在大学校园中存在。真正的问题是:这种偏见的程度如何,以及它带来了什么影响?校园抗议活动是针对以色列的政策。但是,认为任何对以色列的批评都等同于反犹太主义的观点是完全错误的。
I actually do not know from first-hand any instances of what I would count as antisemitic rather than anti-Israel abuse on the part of protesters. But the line between the two is exactly what there is argument about right now and it is not impossible it has been crossed. Although the universities have been vigilant in protecting student sensitivities in the past few years, some students supportive of Israel believe their feelings are being ignored. I do know for a fact that Israeli students — some of them sympathetic to the demonstrators — have been on the receiving end of vitriolic language in the past months. I find this singling out of people for political opprobrium on the basis of their nationality pernicious and absurd.
实际上,我并没有亲身经历过我会认为是反犹太主义而非反以色列的抗议者的行为。但是,这两者之间的界限正是目前的争论焦点,也并非不可能已经被越过。尽管在过去的几年里,大学一直在警惕地保护学生的敏感性,但一些支持以色列的学生认为他们的感受被忽视了。我确实知道,一些以色列学生——其中包括一些对抗议者表示同情的人——在过去几个月里一直是尖刻言辞的靶子。我认为这种基于国籍挑选出人进行政治谴责的做法是有害的,也是荒谬的。
It must have been similarly discomforting to be an American on English campuses during the Vietnam war, or for that matter a Russian student at Columbia in the spring and summer of 2022. I cannot say what the answer is, but I am sure that it will come through education and argument and not through prohibitions, political interference and police actions. It is, after all, part of a much larger problem of civil discourse in a society that is fragmenting into tribes and retreating into easy solidarities and the cost-free name-calling of social media.
在越南战争期间,身为美国人在英国的校园里,或者在2022年春夏季作为俄罗斯学生在哥伦比亚大学,肯定也会感到同样的不适。我不能确定答案是什么,但我坚信,答案将通过教育和讨论来找到,而不是通过禁令、政治干预和警察行动。毕竟,这是一个更大的问题的一部分,即在一个正在分裂成部落、退缩到简单的团结和社交媒体无成本的谩骂的社会中,如何进行文明对话。
One little-appreciated aspect of what has been happening on campus is that Jewish opinion among our students is more diverse than people realise. I had a conversation with an undergraduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary who is passionate about history. They tell me they have some sympathy with the protesters on the lawn and think there was no reason to call in the police: unlike their parents, they say, with whom they argue about these things, they want to acknowledge the scale of Palestinian suffering. This is someone looking forward to being in Israel this summer.
校园里正在发生的事情中,一个鲜为人知的方面是,我们的学生中犹太观点的多样性超乎人们的想象。我曾与一位来自犹太神学院(Jewish Theological Seminary)的本科生交谈,他对历史充满热情。他告诉我,他对草坪上的抗议者有些同情,并认为没有必要召来警察:他说,与他的父母不同,他们经常就这些问题进行争论,他希望承认巴勒斯坦人所遭受的苦难的规模。这是一个期待今年夏天去以色列的人。
Are not these students, from varied backgrounds, who are supporting the Palestinians, only doing what we have taught them to do?
这些来自不同背景的学生支持巴勒斯坦人,难道不正是在做我们教导他们的事情吗?
I see in them a younger generation of American Jews who retain an attachment to Israel but are more openly critical of it than their parents. The older ones instinctively see a keffiyeh as one step away from terrorism; many of the younger ones see their classmates. Polls indicate that a generational cleavage exists within American Jewry over the issue of Israel, one that is surely being exacerbated by the actions of the current Israeli government.
我在他们身上看到了美国犹太人的年轻一代,他们虽然仍对以色列有所依恋,但相比他们的父辈,对其持有更多的公开批评。年长者本能地把凯菲亚头巾看作是濒临恐怖主义的标志;而许多年轻人却在这样的头巾中看到了他们的同学。民意调查显示,在以色列这一议题上,美国犹太社群存在明显的代际裂痕,这种裂痕无疑正被以色列现政府的行为所加剧。
One of the things I love about Columbia students is that they care. Are not these students, from varied backgrounds, who are supporting the Palestinians, only doing what we have taught them to do? Have we not taught them about the Holocaust and “Never Again”? And can we be surprised if the lesson many of them draw is that you need to be on the lookout for genocide, and to stand up and be counted and not a bystander when you believe you see it happening? Rightly or wrongly, their generation sees issues of justice at home and abroad as interconnected. Some may find the protesters infuriating, intolerant and self-righteous. But the one thing they have not been in these days is violent.
我喜欢哥伦比亚学生的一点就是他们的关心。这些来自各种背景的学生支持巴勒斯坦人,难道他们不是在实践我们所教导的吗?我们不是教过他们关于大屠杀和“永不再次发生”的历史吗?如果他们从中得出的教训是需要警惕种族灭绝,并在看到这种情况发生时挺身而出,而不是旁观,我们还能感到惊讶吗?无论对错,他们这一代人认为国内外的正义问题是相互关联的。有些人可能会觉得抗议者令人恼火、不宽容和自以为是。但在这些日子里,他们唯一没有做的就是使用暴力。
Sunday April 21: A police captain reportedly tells one of the doormen on Riverside Drive: “We’re not going to do this any more.” I am reminded of what NYPD chief of patrol John Chell said at the press conference following the students’ arrests: “To put this in perspective, the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.”
4月21日,星期日: 据报道,一名警察队长对河滨路的一名门卫说:“我们不会再这样做了。”我想起了纽约警察局巡逻局长约翰•切尔(John Chell)在学生被捕后的新闻发布会上所说的话:“从一个角度来看,被逮捕的学生都是和平的,他们没有进行任何抵抗,而是以和平的方式表达了他们想说的话。”
Unlike the media or the politicians, the police have consistently underscored the non-violent nature of what has been happening inside the campus. At an impromptu press conference at the top of 116th Street held by the NYPD a reporter asked about students preparing to attend Passover seders: “What is happening in general, and have there been any threats against the campus in relation to the upcoming holiday?” To which NYPD deputy commissioner for public information Tarik Sheppard responded: “There have been no credible threats to any particular group or individual coming from this protest or any other.”
与媒体或政治家不同,警方一直在强调校园内发生的事件的非暴力性质。在纽约警察局在116街顶部举行的一场临时新闻发布会上,一名记者询问了准备参加逾越节晚餐的学生:“总的来说,发生了什么?有没有任何针对即将到来的节日的校园威胁?”纽约警察局公共信息副专员塔里克•谢泼德(Tarik Sheppard)回应:“无论是这次抗议还是其他任何活动,都没有对任何特定团体或个人构成可信的威胁。”
Monday April 22, 1.14am: An email message from President Shafik, the first since the crisis erupted, informs us that classes are to be held virtually today. My seminar is only a few hours away and I decide to ignore it. My students and I had already agreed we would hold class in my apartment, and anyway I do not like people telling me when and how to teach without good reason. During the Covid restrictions I continued to hold in-person seminars because foreign students needed them for their visas. Since then, I have had a strongly protective feeling about the campus and my students. The care my colleagues and I can show our students is part of our mission as teachers. Closing things down goes against my instincts. For learning, it is always better to be face to face.
4月22日,星期一,凌晨1点14分: 自从危机爆发以来,沙菲克校长发来的第一封电子邮件通知我们,今天的课程将以虚拟方式进行。我的研讨课将在几个小时后开始,我决定不理会这封邮件。我和我的学生已经决定在我的公寓中上课,而且我不喜欢在没有充分理由的情况下被告知何时和如何教学。在新冠疫情限制期间,为了帮助需要保持签证状态的外国学生,我坚持进行面对面的研讨会。从那时起,我对校园和我的学生产生了强烈的保护感。 我和我的同事对学生的关心,是我们作为教师的使命之一。关闭一切违背了我的直觉。对于学习来说,面对面的交流总是最好的。
A friend sends me a black-and-white photo from 1968: taken at the University of Sussex in the UK, it shows the occupation of a campus building. A poster of Mao hangs down from the floor above and a sign says: “Stop all connections with US military”. Students crowd the stairs. In their midst, in suit and tie, stands the vice-chancellor, Asa Briggs, arguing with them, and discussing the world’s issues. No starry-eyed romantic, he battled hard to win over public opinion, a task made more complex in his view by the press’s appetite for stories of conflict on campus and by the fact that — as he put it — some of the views expressed in any university must inevitably “affront people whose horizons are narrow”.
一位朋友给我发来了一张1968年的黑白照片,拍摄地点是英国的苏塞克斯大学,照片展示了校园一座建筑的占领场景。从楼上垂下一张毛泽东的海报,一块标语写着:“停止与美军的一切联系”。学生们挤满了楼梯。在他们中间,西装革履的副校长阿萨•布里格斯正在与他们争论,讨论世界问题。他不是那种幻想中的浪漫主义者,而是努力争取公众舆论的支持。他认为这个任务变得更加复杂,因为媒体对校园冲突的报道充满了兴趣,而且正如他所说,任何大学表达的观点都不可避免地会“冒犯那些眼界狭窄的人”。
Monday April 22, 1.30pm: I join colleagues heading on to campus. There are so many of us that we need to queue for admission at the 117th Street gate. While we wait, a man walks by sticking his camera in our faces, assuming we support Hamas. Once inside I join the crowd of professors standing on the steps; several hundred students are below us. Together we listen to the speakers. One of them asks a question that resonates with me. Why has our university president failed to express the pride we feel in our university and our students?
4月22日星期一,下午1点30分: 我和同事们一起前往校园。因为我们人数众多,所以需要在117街的门口排队等候进入。在等待期间,一名男子走过来,用相机对准我们的脸,显然他认为我们支持哈马斯。进入校园后,我加入了站在台阶上的教授们;下方聚集了几百名学生。我们一同聆听发言者的演讲。其中一位发言者提出了一个与我产生共鸣的问题:为什么我们的校长没有表达出我们对大学和学生的骄傲感?
Mark Mazower has taught history at Columbia University since 2004
马克•马佐韦尔(Mark Mazower)自2004年起在哥伦比亚大学教授历史。
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