紐時賞析／白宮再度放緩撥款給特定大學

White House Again Delays Science Grants to Colleges Hit Snag Again

白宮再度放緩撥款給特定大學

The Trump administration has quietly slowed funding for scientific research at Harvard and other universities that have been targets of a White House pressure campaign, according to government data reviewed by The New York Times.

根據《紐約時報》查閱的政府資料，川普政府悄悄放慢了對哈佛等多所大學的科學研究補助撥款，而這些學校一直是白宮施壓行動的目標。

The funding slowdowns at the National Science Foundation, one of the largest single sources of federal research dollars for universities, have also affected Duke, Princeton and Yale, records show. Grant proposals that had previously been recommended for funding by employees who oversee the review process have been flagged in recent months for additional scrutiny, but with no clear explanation provided in the records and researchers left largely in the dark.

 紀錄顯示，國家科學基金會的撥款也出現放緩；該機構是大學聯邦研究經費的最大單一來源之一，而受影響的還包括杜克、普林斯頓和耶魯。近幾個月來，原本已由審查流程主管人員建議核准的補助提案，被標記要求進一步審查；但紀錄中並沒有清楚說明原因，研究人員也大多一頭霧水。

The holds had set off alarm bells inside the agency and on some campuses. Federal judges ruled in two separate cases last year that the Trump administration had broken the law by halting research grants as a way to impose policy changes.

 這些暫緩撥款的做法，在該機構內部和部分校園裡都引起警覺。 去年，兩起不同案件中的聯邦法官都裁定，川普政府以暫停研究補助作為施壓手段、藉此推動政策改變，已經違法。

A White House spokesperson said the administration’s reviews of grants were in compliance with federal law. An NSF spokesperson declined to comment.

白宮發言人表示，政府對補助案的審查都符合法律規定；國家科學基金會發言人則拒絕評論。

Michael Gerhardt, a constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina, said the holds at the NSF may violate a ruling in September from Judge Allison D. Burroughs of U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, who barred the administration from blocking future research funding for Harvard out of retaliation.

北卡羅來納大學憲法法律教授葛哈特表示，國科會的暫緩撥款做法，可能違反麻薩諸塞州聯邦地方法院法官伯勒斯去年9月的裁定；當時她禁止政府出於報復目的，阻擋未來對哈佛的研究經費。

“It’s the same game the administration has been waging since Day 1,” Gerhardt said.

葛哈特說：「這是政府從第一天起一直在玩的同一套把戲。」

All four universities have been targets in the Trump administration’s yearlong bid to expunge “woke” ideology from college campuses. The campaign has mostly entailed halting research funds and opening civil rights investigations.

這四所大學一直是川普政府為期一年的行動目標，該行動旨在從校園中清除所謂的「覺醒」意識形態。這場運動主要的手段是凍結研究經費，並展開民權調查。

There was no clear pattern in the type of research that has been held up or the funding that has been approved in recent days.

近期遭暫緩或獲核准的研究類型，並沒有明顯規律可循。

Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, said the foundation slowdown has been “substantial.”

美國教育委員會主席米契爾表示，這波基金會撥款的放緩「幅度很大」。

“We are worried and confused, because we have not gotten any explanation,” Mitchell said.

米契爾說：「我們感到憂心，也很困惑，因為我們完全沒有得到任何說明。」

文／Adam Sella, Mark Arsenault, Stephanie Saul and Michael C. Bender，譯／國際中心