親愛的哥大諸君：

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

今天，我代表我個人，也代表哥倫比亞大學(xué)，向你們致信。我和大家一樣，在回顧上周發(fā)生的一系列事件時，對我們正在目睹的人類苦難感到愈發(fā)痛苦，也對我們的政治制度所面臨的全國危機感到震驚。

I am writing in both a personal and an institutional capacity. Like everyone, I have been reflecting on the events of the last week with an increasing sense of anguish at the human suffering we are witnessing and of alarm at the national crisis we are facing in our political system.

我認為我一刻也不會忘記我們正處于一場歷史性的大流行之中。這場疫情造成了難以計數(shù)的人員傷亡，具體數(shù)字令人震驚。但上周五，在本應(yīng)保護所有公民的正義體系下，George Floyd的生命終結(jié)連同近期其他悲劇性事件扯下了美國幾個世紀以來的“遮羞布”——對非裔美國人等群體令人憎惡的歧視。

Until last Friday, I did not think it was possible for me to forget even for a moment that we are in the midst of an historic pandemic, bringing untold human loss and crossing a numerical threshold of unimaginable proportions. But the horrifying ending of the life of George Floyd, a citizen in the very system of justice intended to protect him, and us, which then, along with other recent tragic deaths, drew back the curtains on centuries of invidious discrimination against African Americans, and others, did that.

我曾燃起希望——相信經(jīng)過幾代人的英勇努力，我們能夠重新樹立民族使命感，一勞永逸地改變歷史進程。但如今這一希望破滅了。

My hopes for a renewed sense of national purpose to continue the heroic efforts of so many, over so many generations, to change once and for all that terrible course of history have been raised, and then deflated.

我們正處于這樣一個歷史節(jié)點——政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力不僅缺位，更在令人不安地混淆那些我們年復(fù)一年努力所建立起的基本準則和價值觀。而和人性最惡的本能相比時，這些基本準則和價值觀卻又是如此脆弱且不堪一擊。我所擔憂的不是黨派之爭，而是我們文化的根本。

We are at a point in our history where political leadership is not only absent but also disturbingly confounding of the fundamental norms and values that take years and years of hard and determined work to develop—and yet are always so fragile when pitted against the worst instincts of human nature. My concerns here are not partisan, but basic to our culture.

和哥倫比亞大學(xué)里的許多人一樣，我選擇將我的一生奉獻給維護和建立學(xué)術(shù)機構(gòu)，特別是我深愛的哥倫比亞大學(xué)。毫無疑問，大眾對學(xué)術(shù)界知識分子的期待和定位近乎苛刻，但我們也不能理所應(yīng)當?shù)卣J為學(xué)界能因此免于政治審查和干擾。正如我們現(xiàn)在所看到的一樣，在上周我們的科學(xué)研究、科研人員和我們的大學(xué)就不幸遭受了無端指責(zé)，這一切本不應(yīng)該發(fā)生。如果這只是一個個例，那另當別論；但按照目前的情形看，這些行為變成了恐嚇和對專業(yè)知識的危險誤解，是陷入獨裁主義的標志之一。

Like so many others here, I have chosen to dedicate my life to sustaining and building academic institutions, and my beloved Columbia, specifically. There is no question that the expectations of intellectual character we choose to live by in the academic world are extreme, and we cannot reasonably expect them to set the bar for ordinary political deliberations and interactions. But what we are seeing today—which unfortunately included just in the last week an unfounded attack on our research and researchers, as well as on the University itself—is at the opposite end of the spectrum. If this were a single incident, that would be one thing, but in the current way of behaving, these become acts of intimidation and dangerous mischaracterization of expertise, one of the hallmarks of a descent into authoritarianism.

面對所有這一切，向哥大社群中所有遭受苦楚和憂慮的成員表示同情和支持僅僅是個開始。毋須諱言，大學(xué)是不完美的，我們必須為今天的狀況承擔一份責(zé)任。但我們決心改變，變得更好，現(xiàn)在更是如此。更重要的是，我們將繼續(xù)向社會和世界提供我們能夠保存和創(chuàng)造的所有知識，并培育新一代公民和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，使他們以尊重理性、熱愛思想的價值觀為生活準則并為之奮斗，同時以這些價值觀來關(guān)愛他人。

In the face of all this, it is only a start to express empathy and solidarity with those in our community who are experiencing loss and apprehension. But I certainly do so here, on behalf of all of us. Universities are not perfect and we have to accept our share of responsibility for the state of affairs we have today. But we are determined, even more so now, to change and to be better. More than anything we will continue to provide the society and the world with all the knowledge we can preserve and create and with a new generation of citizens and leaders who are prepared to live by, and fight for, the values of respect for reason, the love of ideas, and the wish to use these to care for others.

真誠地

Sincerely,

李·布林格

Lee C. Bollinger