紐時賞析／哈佛捲反猶風波受重創 全美各大學皮皮剉

At Harvard, Some Wonder What It Will Take to Stop the Spiral

哈佛品牌遭到侵蝕 全美各大學戒慎恐懼

When 70 university presidents gathered for a summit at the end of January, the topic on everyone’s mind was the crisis at Harvard University.

當70個大學校長1月底齊聚參加一場峰會時，每個人心中主題都是哈佛大學的危機。

The hosts of the summit treated the university, battered by accusations of coddling antisemitism, as a business-school case study on leadership in higher education, complete with a slide presentation on its plummeting reputation.

哈佛大學因被控放縱反猶主義而遭受重創，峰會主持人將此視為高等教育領導能力的一個商學院個案研究，配有一張該校聲望重挫的投影片簡報。

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale University’s School of Management, organized the summit. “Despite near 400 years of history, the value of brand equity is nowhere near as permanent as Harvard trustees think it is,” he said in an interview.

耶魯大學管理學院教授桑能菲爾德組織這場峰會。他受訪時表示，「儘管有將近400年歷史，其品牌資產價值遠遠不如哈佛董事們認為的那樣耐久」。

Many presidents attending the summit saw the erosion of Harvard’s brand as a problem not only for the school, but also by extension for the entire enterprise of higher education. If Harvard could not protect itself, then what about every other institution? Could Harvard’s leadership find an effective response?

出席峰會的許多校長認為，哈佛品牌的侵蝕不只是該校的問題，廣泛來說也是整個高等教育事業的問題。如果哈佛都無法保護自己，那其他機構會怎麼樣？哈佛的領導階層能找到有效的回應嗎？

There was a hint of a more assertive approach by Harvard on Monday, when the university announced that it was investigating “deeply offensive antisemitic tropes” posted on social media by pro-Palestinian student and faculty groups.

哈佛大學有了一點更果斷的態度，該校周一宣布，正在調查親巴勒斯坦學生與教職員團體在社群媒體發布「極為冒犯的反猶比喻」。

Harvard took the action at a time when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has begun to scrutinize its record on antisemitism. On Friday, the committee issued subpoenas to Harvard’s interim president, the head of the school’s governing board and its investment manager, in a wide-ranging hunt for documents relating to the university’s handling of campus antisemitism claims. The threat of the subpoenas led PEN America, a writers’ group that defends academic freedom, to warn against a fishing expedition.

哈佛大學採取這項行動之際，美國眾議院教育和勞動力委員會已著手詳細檢查該校的反猶主義紀錄。委員會周五向哈佛的臨時校長、該校董事會主席與投資經理發出傳票，以廣泛搜尋該大學處理校園反猶主義主張的文件。傳票的威脅，致使維護學術自由的作家團體「美國筆會」警告，不要進行蓄意盤查。

There is also a lawsuit against Harvard, calling the university “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment,” as well as federal investigations into charges that the university ignored both antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.

還有針對哈佛的訴訟，稱該大學是「反猶太仇恨與騷擾猖獗的堡壘」，以及聯邦調查相關指控，稱該校忽視校內反猶主義與伊斯蘭恐懼症。

There is evidence of reputational damage: a 17% drop in the number of students applying to Harvard for early admission decisions this year. Other Ivy League schools saw increases.

有證據顯示哈佛的聲譽受損：今年向哈佛申請提前入學決定的學生人數下降了17%。其他常春藤盟校出現成長。

The attacks “have obviously unsettled Harvard, in terms of its highest leadership,” said Randall Kennedy, a Harvard law professor. “They have undermined morale. It has been a very effective attack.”

哈佛法學院教授甘迺迪表示，「就最高領導階層而言」，這種攻擊「顯然讓哈佛感到焦慮不安」，「它們打擊了士氣，這是一次非常有效的攻擊」。

文／Anemona Hartocollis 譯／周辰陽

說文解字看新聞

【周辰陽】

哈佛、賓大、麻省理工學院幾間常春藤名校(Ivy League School)最近都捲入以色列與巴勒斯坦武裝組織哈瑪斯的衝突當中，哈佛與賓大的校長並因此下台。各大學不禁擔心：如果龍頭哈佛都自身難保，其他學校該怎麼辦？

標題的spiral可當名詞和動詞，指螺旋式上升或下降，以加薩為例：The spiraling civilian death toll has spurred international calls for the fighting to end.形容情勢時，常指惡化：Since then the situation has spiraled.

Fishing expedition在英語裡面可以單純指去釣魚，但通常用於法律，是指以蒐羅挖掘不利於某人的證據為目的的調查行動，問題通常間接隱晦：It was clear she was on a fishing expedition, asking about strange and unusual entries.

偵查機關若不釋明有相當理由足認某人犯下特定犯罪，恐使偵查淪為「釣魚辦案」(fishing expedition)，聲東擊西，假偵查特定列舉犯罪之名，行蒐查其他案件之實，有違民主法治。