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The Maga movement’s campaign to remake the US’s institutional and social fabric intensified this month, when the White House issued a handful of universities — now extended to the whole sector — with a “compact for academic excellence”.
本月，“让美国再次伟大”(MAGA)运动加紧了重塑美国制度与社会结构的行动：白宫向少数高校——现已扩展至整个高等教育领域——发布了所谓“学术卓越协议”(compact for academic excellence)。
The compact, which people associated with the initiative describe as open to feedback from the universities themselves, prescribes a range of reforms from the Maga wish list, on the penalty of losing federal funding. The demands range from the micromanaged — such as requiring single-sex toilets and a price cap on tuition for US students — to the ideological, including “merit-based” admissions with no consideration for historically oppressed groups.
这份协议规定了一系列源自MAGA诉求清单的改革，高校若不遵守将面临失去联邦资助的惩罚——据相关人士称，该倡议对高校本身的反馈持开放态度。这些要求涵盖了从微观管理（例如要求设置单一性别厕所、对美国学生的学费设定价格上限）到意识形态（包括实行“基于成绩”的招生制度，而不考虑群体是否在历史上受压迫）等等内容。
The initiative adds to the pressure Donald Trump’s administration has already piled on US universities, notably Columbia and Harvard. As it so often does, the administration has latched on to real if minor shortcomings and used them as a fulcrum to advance its own goals. Indeed, Americans well beyond the Maga camp have harboured concerns that universities were too politically homogenous for their own good, let leftwing identity politics chill debate, and bungled their responsibilities in managing protests against Israel.
这一倡议进一步加大了唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)政府对美国高校施加的压力，尤其是对哥伦比亚大学(Columbia)和哈佛大学(Harvard)。正如其一贯所为，这届政府抓住了一些确有其事但影响较小的缺陷，利用其当作杠杆来推进自身目标。确实，远不止MAGA阵营的美国人存在担忧，认为高校的政治立场过于同质，不利于其自身发展；左翼身份政治压抑了辩论；并且在应对反以色列的抗议活动时失职。
But even if the Trump administration’s ostensible efforts at improvement were made in good faith, they would be a cure worse than the disease. A government is entitled to set reasonable conditions for institutions to be eligible for subsidies and of course to enforce the law. But that is not what the proposed compact does. As a remedy for any skewed hiring it offers a policy of purity tests; in the place of alleged leftwing bias the compact requires schools to take action against those who “belittle” conservative viewpoints.
但即便特朗普政府表面上为改进所作的努力是出于善意，其“药方”也将比“疾病”更糟。政府当然有权为高校补贴设定合理条件，并依法执法。但拟议中的协议并非如此。作为对偏颇招聘的补救，它提出的是一种纯洁性测试政策；作为所谓左翼偏见的替代，该协议要求学校对那些“贬低”保守观点的人采取行动。
The compact is part of the administration’s wider campaign against dissent and Trump’s personal vindictiveness towards criticism. His administration has targeted lawyers, journalists, comedians and universities with prosecutions, harassment and financial penalties. Recently, members of the US armed forces have been put on alert against political disapproval of the president, and visas have been revoked on the basis of showing disrespect for Charlie Kirk’s murder.
该协议是政府广泛打压异议行动的一部分，也反映出特朗普对批评的个人报复心态。他的政府通过起诉、骚扰和经济惩罚，打击了律师、记者、喜剧演员以及大学。最近，美国军人被要求警惕针对总统的政治不满，且有人因被认定对查理•柯克(Charlie Kirk)之死表现出不敬而被撤销签证。
The compact is an intensification of a broader campaign to bend academia to the government’s will, or failing that, to diminish its critical voice in the public sphere. The inconsistencies in the administration’s demands give the game away. It rejects diversity and inclusion considerations in admissions and hiring, but backs conservative viewpoints.
这份协议只是一场更大规模行动的升级，旨其目的是迫使学术界迎合政府意志；若无法得逞，便削弱其在公共领域的批判声音。政府提出的要求前后矛盾，泄露了其真实意图。它一方面反对在招生与聘用中考虑多元与包容，另一方面却力挺保守立场。
Protecting free enquiry is not done by “abolishing institutional units that purposefully . . . belittle . . . conservative ideas”, as the compact demands. Do those ideas include, for example, disputing greenhouse gas effects in the atmosphere, or the efficacy of vaccines? Does refuting their scientific standing count as belittling them?
要捍卫自由探究，并不能像该协议所要求的那样“废除那些有意……贬低……保守主义思想的大学部门”。比方说，上述思想是否包括质疑温室气体在大气中的作用或疫苗的有效性？对其科学地位的驳斥是否算作贬低？
Of the initial nine recipients of the proposal, two — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University — have rejected it as an assault on free speech and enquiry. The most powerful universities, and those with the deepest pockets, should rally behind them. That would make it easier for the more exposed ones to do the same. With little sign of Trump letting up, however, they must steward their affairs tightly: prepare for funding cuts and address any problems that give the administration the pretexts it needs.
在最初收到该提案的九所大学中，有两所——麻省理工学院(MIT)和布朗大学(Brown University)——已将其驳回，认为这是对言论自由和学术探究的攻击。最有影响力、财政实力最雄厚的大学应当声援它们，这将使处境更为脆弱的学校更容易仿效。然而，鉴于几乎看不到特朗普会收手的迹象，各校必须严密管理自身事务：为经费削减做好准备，并解决任何可能为政府提供借口的问题。
Universities are communities of enquiry: their first job is to foster environments of civil disagreement in the pursuit of objective truth. Signing Trump’s compact would do the opposite.
高校是探究共同体：它们的首要职责是在追求客观真理的过程中营造文明分歧的环境。签署特朗普的协议会适得其反。