麻省理工学院反对美政府不公平对待华人学者

麻省理工学院反对美政府不公平对待华人学者

【中美创新时报波士顿6月26日综合讯】据新华社报道,美国麻省理工学院校长拉斐尔·莱夫25日在一封致全校的公开信中说,针对华人“不公平的审查”会“造成一种无根据的怀疑和恐惧的有毒气氛”,对这所世界知名研究型大学和美国造成伤害。

麻省理工学院官网公布了莱夫的这封信。这一表态的背景是美国华人科学家近来频频遭遇“排华事件”,且中方部分赴美留学人员和学者签证受到限制,引发美科学界忧虑。

莱夫在公开信中说,“有教职员工、博士后、研究人员和学生告诉我,在与政府机构打交道时,他们遭到不公平的审查、被污名化并受到排挤,仅仅因为他们是华人”。

他说,中国人和华裔美国人的这些遭遇让人不安,因为他们不仅是学校的“模范成员”,也是“美国社会杰出的贡献者”,然而他们觉得自己得到的回报却是“普遍的不信任和不尊重”。

莱夫说,这些行为和政策足以传递出一个信息,即美国正在关上大门,“我们不再想要去吸引世界上最有进取心和创造力的人群”,这与美国取得成功的历史不符,将让国家及麻省理工学院付出长期的严重代价。

美国耶鲁大学、斯坦福大学、加州大学伯克利分校、密歇根大学、特拉华大学等知名大学此前均发文重申欢迎国际学生和学者,认为基于国籍而产生的怀疑会导致可怕的后果。今年3月,哈佛大学校长劳伦斯·巴科还表示,美中高校等教育文化机构保持和深化交流合作,对促进美中关系十分重要。(完)

附:公开信原文和中文翻译

Letter to the MIT community: Immigration is a kind of oxygen

(麻省理工学院校长致信全校成员:移民如同氧气)

MIT News Office 
June 25, 2019

The following email was sent today to the MIT community by President L. Rafael Reif.

To the members of the MIT community,

(致麻省理工学院的社区成员):

MIT has flourished, like the United States itself, because it has been a magnet for the world’s finest talent, a global laboratory where people from every culture and background inspire each other and invent the future, together.

(麻省理工学院像美国一样蓬勃发展,因为它像磁铁一样吸引了世界上最优秀的人才,同时作为一个全球化的实验室,来自不同文化和背景的人们互相激励,共同创造未来。)

Today, I feel compelled to share my dismay about some circumstances painfully relevant to our fellow MIT community members of Chinese descent. And I believe that because we treasure them as friends and colleagues, their situation and its larger national context should concern us all.

(今天,我不得不为关于我们麻省理工学院的华裔社区成员所遭受的痛苦境况而感到沮丧。我相信,因为我们珍视他们作为朋友和同事的身份,所以他们的处境和更大的国家背景也应该关系到我们所有人。)

The situation

(情况)

As the US and China have struggled with rising tensions, the US government has raised serious concerns about incidents of alleged academic espionage conducted by individuals through what is widely understood as a systematic effort of the Chinese government to acquire high-tech IP.

(由于美中两国之间的关系愈发紧张,美国政府对个人通过人们普遍认为的中国政府收购高科技知识产权的系统性努力所引发的学术间谍事件而表示严重关切。)

As head of an institute that includes MIT Lincoln Laboratory, I could not take national security more seriously. I am well aware of the risks of academic espionage, and MIT has established prudent policies to protect against such breaches.

(作为包括麻省理工学院林肯实验室在内的研究所的所长,我已经不能更认真地对待国家安全了。我很清楚学术间谍活动的风险,而麻省理工学院也已经制定了谨慎的政策来防范此类违规行为。)

But in managing these risks, we must take great care not to create a toxic atmosphere of unfounded suspicion and fear. Looking at cases across the nation, small numbers of researchers of Chinese background may indeed have acted in bad faith, but they are the exception and very far from the rule. Yet faculty members, post-docs, research staff and students tell me that, in their dealings with government agencies, they now feel unfairly scrutinized, stigmatized and on edge – because of their Chinese ethnicity alone. 

(但在管理这些风险时,我们必须非常小心,不要制造一种毫无根据的怀疑和恐惧的有毒气氛。从全国各地的案例来看,尽管少数具有中国背景的研究人员可能确实是出于恶意行事,但他们是例外,而且远远偏离了规则。然而,教师,博士后,研究人员和学生却告诉我,在他们与政府机构打交道时,他们现在感觉到他们受到不公正的审查,同时感到耻辱和紧张- 仅仅只是因为他们的中国背景。) 

Nothing could be further from – or more corrosive to ­– our community’s collaborative strength and open-hearted ideals. To hear such reports from Chinese and Chinese-American colleagues is heartbreaking. As scholars, teachers, mentors, inventors and entrepreneurs, they have been not only exemplary members of our community but exceptional contributors to American society. I am deeply troubled that they feel themselves repaid with generalized mistrust and disrespect.

(没有比这个更加偏离、甚至是在腐蚀我们社区的协作力量和开放的理想的了,华人和华裔同事的这些报道令人心碎。作为学者,教师,导师,发明家和企业家,他们不仅是我们社区的典范成员,也是美国社会的杰出贡献者,但是令我深感困扰的是他们感到自己得到的是回报却是普遍的不信任和不尊重。)

The signal to the world

(向世界发出的信号)

For those of us who know firsthand the immense value of MIT’s global community and of the free flow of scientific ideas, it is important to understand the distress of these colleagues as part of an increasingly loud signal the US is sending to the world.

(对于我们这些直接了解麻省理工学院作为全球社区以及科学思想自由流动的巨大价值的人来说,了解这些同事的痛苦是美国向世界传达的越来越响亮的口号的一部分是非常重要的。 )

Protracted visa delays. Harsh rhetoric against most immigrants and a range of other groups, because of religion, race, ethnicity or national origin. Together, such actions and policies have turned the volume all the way up on the message that the US is closing the door – that we no longer seek to be a magnet for the world’s most driven and creative individuals. I believe this message is not consistent with how America has succeeded. I am certain it is not how the Institute has succeeded. And we should expect it to have serious long-term costs for the nation and for MIT.

(这些行为包括长期签证延误、由于宗教,种族,民族或血统而对大多数移民和其他一系列群体的严厉言论。总而言之,这些行动和政策已经把美国要关闭大门的声音调到了最高。我们不再寻求吸引世界上最具驱动力和创造力的个人。我相信这个信息与美国的成功方式并不一致。我也确信研究院所的成功并非源于此。我们同时还应该考虑它为国家和麻省理工学院带来的严重的长期成本。)

For the record, let me say with warmth and enthusiasm to every member of MIT’s intensely global community: We are glad, proud and fortunate to have you with us! To our alumni around the world: We remain one community, united by our shared values and ideals! And to all the rising talent out there: If you are passionate about making a better world, and if you dream of joining our community, we welcome your creativity, we welcome your unstoppable energy and aspiration – and we hope you can find a way to join us. 

(在此我要郑重声明,对于麻省理工学院全球社区的每一位成员,我想充满善意与热情的对你们说:我们很高兴,自豪和幸运地拥有你们!对于我们全世界的校友:我们仍然是团结在共同的价值观和理想之下的社区!对于所有崭露头角的人才:如果你热衷于创造一个更美好的世界,如果你梦想加入我们的社区,我们欢迎你的创造力,我们欢迎你不可阻挡的能量和愿望。我们也希望你能找到一条加入我们的路! )

* * *

In May, the world lost a brilliant creative force: architect I.M. Pei, MIT Class of 1940. Raised in Shanghai and Hong Kong, he came to the United States at 17 to seek an education. He left a legacy of iconic buildings from Boston to Paris and China to Washington, DC, as well on our own campus. By his own account, he consciously stayed alive to his Chinese roots all his life. Yet, when he died at the age of 102, the Boston Globe described him as “the most prominent American architect of his generation.”

(5月,世界失去了一位杰出的创作巨匠:麻省理工学院1940级毕业生建筑师贝聿铭。他在上海和香港长大,17岁时来到美国寻求教育。他留下的标志性的建筑遗产分布在从波士顿到巴黎、从中国的到华盛顿特区的各个地方,以及我们自己的校园。按照他自己的说法,他一生都和自己的中国根基保持着密不可分的联系。然而,当他在102岁时去世时,波士顿环球报将他形容为“他那一代最杰出的美国建筑师。” )

Thanks to the inspired American system that also made room for me as an immigrant, all of those facts can be true at the same time.

(幸亏美国鼓舞人心的制度也为作为移民的我创造了空间,所以所有这些事实可以同时都是真实的。 )

As I have discovered through 40 years in academia, the hidden strength of a university is that every fall, it is refreshed by a new tide of students. I am equally convinced that part of the genius of America is that it is continually refreshed by immigration – by the passionate energy, audacity, ingenuity and drive of people hungry for a better life.

(正如我在我四十年的学术生涯中发现的那样,大学隐藏的力量是每一个秋天它都会被新的一批的学生所更新。我同样相信,美国精神的一部分也在被移民通过他们充满激情的能量、大胆、聪明才智和渴望更美好生活的动力而不断更新。 )

There is certainly room for a wide range of serious positions on the actions necessary to ensure our national security and to manage and improve our nation’s immigration system. But above the noise of the current moment, the signal I believe we should be sending, loud and clear, is that the story of American immigration is essential to understanding how the US became, and remains, optimistic, open-minded, innovative and prosperous – a story of never-ending renewal.

(在确保我们的国家安全以及管理和改善我们国家的移民系统所必需的行动方面,肯定有很多重要方面需要考虑。但在当前时刻的噪音之中,我相信我们应该发出响亮而清晰的信号,美国移民的故事对于理解美国如何成为并保持乐观、开放、创新和繁荣至关重要,而这个故事也是永无止境不断更新的。 )

In a nation like ours, immigration is a kind of oxygen, each fresh wave reenergizing the body as a whole. As a society, when we offer immigrants the gift of opportunity, we receive in return vital fuel for our shared future. I trust that this wisdom will always guide us in the life and work of MIT. And I hope it can continue to guide our nation.

(在像我们这样的国家,移民如同氧气,而每次吸入新鲜氧气都会使整个身体重新获得能量。作为一个社会,当我们赠予移民以机会,我们都会得到对于我们共有的未来至关重要的燃料。我相信这种智慧将永远在麻省理工学院的生活和工作中引导我们。我也希望它能够继续指导我们的国家。 )

Sincerely,

L. Rafael Reif

真诚的

雷欧·拉斐尔·莱夫


中美创新时报网