紐時賞析／挺巴學運心有餘悸…美大學以更嚴厲法規應對新抗議活動

支持巴勒斯坦的抗議者今年4月在德州大學奧斯汀分校和警方發生衝突。（紐約時報）

Colleges Target Gaza Protesters With New Rules

大學用新課程和更嚴法規 壓制挺巴潮

Daniel Diermeier, Vanderbilt University’s chancellor, on Monday told hundreds of new students what the school would not do.

範德堡大學校長迪邁爾週一告訴數百名新生學校不會做的事。

The university would not divest from Israel.

本所大學不會從以色列撤資。

It would not banish provocative speakers.

不會驅逐發表煽動性言論的講者。

It would not issue statements in support or condemnation of Israeli or Palestinian causes.

不會針對以色列和巴勒斯坦議題發表支持或者譴責聲明。

It would not tolerate threats, harassment or protests “disrupting the learning environment.”

不會容忍威脅、騷擾或示威「擾亂學習環境」。

Last month, Vanderbilt required all first-year undergraduate students to attend mandatory meetings about the university’s approach to free speech, with the hope that clear expectations — and explanations for them — would help administrators keep order after protests rocked American campuses toward the end of the past academic year.

上月，範德堡大學要求所有大學一年級學生，參加學校關於言論自由方針的強制性會議，希望明確的期望和向他們解釋，有助行政人員在上學年末抗議活動撼動美國大學校園後維持秩序。

“The chaos on campuses is because there’s lack of clarity on these principles,” Diermeier said in an interview.

迪邁爾在一場訪談中表示：「校園這些混亂，是因爲這些準則不夠明確。」

There is no guarantee that the preemptive meetings will work. Many student activists and professors at Vanderbilt have condemned the university’s rules as suppressing their speech, and even universities with histories of hard-nosed tactics have struggled with demonstrations.

無法保證預防性會議奏效。範德堡大學許多學生維權人士和教授，已譴責學校法規壓制他們的言論，即使以強硬手段著稱的大學，也難以因應示威活動。

But university officials nationwide are grasping for new approaches as they brace for renewed protests over the Israel-Hamas war, along with a bitterly contested presidential election. Many administrators remain shaken by the closing weeks of the spring semester, when encampments, building occupations and clashes with police helped lead to thousands of arrests across the country.

但全國各地大學校方人員正在尋求新方法，因應以哈戰爭引發新的抗議活動，以及競爭激烈的總統大選。許多行政人員仍對春季學期最後幾周發生的事感到震驚，當時示威營地、佔領建築物和與警察衝突，導致全國各地數千人被捕。

The strategies that are coming into public view suggest that some administrators have concluded that permissiveness is perilous, and that a harder line may be the best option — or perhaps just the one least likely to invite blowback from elected officials and donors.

已經公開的策略顯示，一些行政人員認爲寬容很危險，採取更強硬的措施或許是最佳選項，或者也許是最不容易招致民選官員和捐助者反彈的選項。

University presidents used summer break to huddle with police, lawyers, trustees and other administrators to rewrite rules, tighten protest zones, and weigh possible concessions to maintain, or restore, order. Many have studied universities that temporarily defused tensions by striking deals with protesters.

大學校長利用暑假，聚集警方、律師、受託人及其他行政人員改寫法規、收緊抗議區域，並考慮可能的妥協措施，以維持或恢復秩序。許多人研究了和抗議者達成協議暫緩緊張局勢的大學。

Universities are signaling little overt interest in negotiations.

各大學對談判沒什麼明顯的興趣。

“The question is how do we get more consistent in the way we respond to these issues — and clearer about what the rules are and what the tiered responses will be,” said Richard K. Lyons, the new chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley.

柏克萊加州大學新校長萊恩斯表示：「問題在於，我們應對這些議題時的方法如何變得更加一致，並表明法規是什麼，及各層級的應對措施是什麼。」

文／Alan Blinder　譯／羅方妤