摘要：学术自由还是政治报复？特朗普向美国公立大学“宣战”。以“反犹”为由，特朗普政府冻结加州大学巨额科研经费，索要10亿美元天价“和解金”。这场针对蓝州顶尖学府的打压，远超此前与常春藤的纠纷，恐将重创美国科研基石与教育公平。深陷漩涡的UCLA是选择妥协还是诉诸公堂？

有趣灵魂说

译文为原创，仅供个人学习使用

The Economist ｜Struggle sessions

经济学人｜斗争会

Donald Trump comes for America’s public universities

唐纳德·特朗普向美国公立大学发难

But, so far, only those in enemy territory

迄今为止，仅针对那些位于“敌占区”的大学

新学年开学前夕，加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）的校园一片宁静。零星几个学生背着书包漫步。宣称UCLA为全美“第一公立大学”的横幅随处可见（这一说法令其州内竞争对手加州大学伯克利分校颇为不满）。一年前，抗议加沙战争的学生们搭起的帐篷曾挤满一片草坪，如今那里正有一位年轻女子晒着太阳。

但平静之下掩盖着深深的焦虑。七月，美国司法部（DoJ）指控UCLA对帐篷营地的抗议者对犹太和以色列学生实施的反犹骚扰行为“故意漠视”。作为回应，特朗普政府冻结了来自美国国家科学基金会（NSF）和美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）的5.84亿美元研究经费，阻碍了从阿尔茨海默病到阿片类药物等多项研究的进行。为解冻资金，唐纳德·特朗普总统要求UCLA支付10亿美元（约占其年度预算的9%）、禁止夜间抗议活动并进行一系列其他改革。司法部要求该校在9月2日前达成协议，否则将面临诉讼。“这是勒索，只能这么看，”旧金山大学前教务长唐纳德·海勒表示。

在某些方面，UCLA的困境是政府攻击精英私立机构的延伸。正如特朗普与常春藤联盟的斗争一样，加州是总统最喜爱的抨击对象之一。对如今的白宫而言，攻击黄金之州已成为一项备受“珍视”的消遣。但这同时也标志着特朗普对大学进行“敲诈”进入了新阶段。如果政府成功打击了那些惹恼他的公立大学（即由民主党执政州的大学），其造成的压力将比他攻击富裕的私立学校产生更广泛的影响。

常春藤联盟培养的学生不到美国大学生总数的2%。绝大多数——接近四分之三的学生——就读于像UCLA这样由纳税人更多资助的公立大学。其中一些学校在促进阶层向上流动方面贡献最大，却很少成为新闻焦点。非营利组织卡内基基金会和行业协会美国教育委员会（ACE）的一项分析确定了478所“机会大学”，这些地方让聪明的本地学生有机会被录取，且毕业后收入较高。常春藤联盟无一上榜。精英私立大学擅长研究，但公立大学也产出大量研究成果。在获得NSF资助最多的十所大学中，七所是公立大学，其中三所属于加州大学（UC）系统。UCLA排名第7，哈佛第15，哥伦比亚第19（见图表）。

意识到事态重大，负责监督整个十校区系统的加州大学董事会对其与政府的谈判守口如瓶。然而，该州民主党州长、董事会成员加文·纽森一如既往地表明了他的态度。“我们会起诉，”他说。无论UCLA是选择漫长的法律斗争还是支付巨额和解金，都将面临资金紧张。（一名联邦法官已命令政府恢复部分被冻结的资助。）教职员工和官员正赶往州首府萨克拉门托，询问立法机构能否提供帮助。伯克利政府研究所的新民意调查显示，58%的加州人支持增加对加州大学系统的州政府资助。

在司法部公布反犹主义调查结果之前，UCLA已禁止搭建营地并在招聘中取消了“多样性声明”的使用。在联邦政府采取强硬措施前数小时，该校刚与犹太学生就一项诉讼达成和解。UCLA教师协会主席安娜·马科维茨称此为“预期性服从”。“加州大学不想招惹这只熊，”她说。但“熊正在袭来。”美国其他公立大学的管理者也在进行自我审查。他们无疑正紧张地关注着加州的事态发展。

许多公立大学希望比UCLA更成功地保持低调。六月，在美国最大的研究机构之一华盛顿大学拨款放缓后，即将离任的校长在西雅图当地电台表示，她希望“务实”，“不是为了发表重大声明而发表重大声明”。

共和党州的公立大学一直不愿签署针对联邦政府的诉讼。这既反映了当地的保守主义，也反映出特朗普似乎无意骚扰他曾取得政治成功地区的学校。在佛罗里达州的迈阿密戴德学院，全美最大的社区学院，并未出现混乱。联邦政府的佩尔助学金覆盖了60%学生的学费，但校长马德琳·普马雷加并不担心特朗普政府会找他们麻烦。“我们的学生不是躺在绿草地上仰望天空寻找自我，他们正在为找工作而努力，”她说。她认为特朗普先生支持这一点。

当政府扣留了阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的NIH研究经费时，阿拉巴马州参议员凯蒂·布里特致信白宫，辩称资助癌症和慢性病研究符合“让美国再次健康”运动的利益。她还与特朗普先生进行了交谈。很快，用于阿拉巴马州和其他大学的150亿美元资金被解冻。一位高等教育政策专家表示，她的努力“惩戒了政府”。

副总统J.D.万斯的母校俄亥俄州立大学失去了一些联邦资金，但尚未到迫使削减博士项目或解雇博士后研究人员的程度。其校长特德·卡特将其相对 immunity（豁免/受影响较小）归因于学校“坚守[其]使命”且不卷入政治。校园内亲巴勒斯坦的营地迅速被警方和校方领导关闭。今年早些时候，卡特先生带着他赢得冠军的橄榄球队访问 Oval Office（椭圆形办公室）时告诉特朗普先生，“俄亥俄州立大学是会把事情做对的机构。”特朗普先生回应道：“我知道你们会的。”■

ON THE EVE of a new academic year, the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is tranquil. A few students wander around wearing backpacks. Banners declaringUCLA the country’s “ #1 public university” are inescapable (a claim that rankles with the University of California, Berkeley, a state rival). A year ago, tents housing students who were protesting the war in Gazafilled a lawn where a young woman now sunbathes.

But the calm masks deep anxieties. In July the Department of Justice (DoJ) alleged that UCLA was “deliberately indifferent” to the antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli students perpetrated by protesters in the tent encampment. In response, the Trump administration froze $584m in research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), hindering studies on everything from Alzheimer’s to opioids. To release the funding, President Donald Trump is asking for $1bn, or roughly 9% of UCLA’s annual budget, a ban on overnight protests and a host of other changes. The DoJgave the university until September 2nd to negotiate a deal or face a lawsuit. “It’s extortion, it’s the only way to look at it,” says Donald Heller, a former provost of the University of San Francisco.

In some respects UCLA’s predicament is an extension of the administration’s attacks on elite private institutions. As was true of Mr Trump’s fight with the Ivy League, California is one of the president’s favourite foils. Attacking the Golden State is, at this point, a treasured pastime for this White House. But this also marks a new stage in Mr Trump’s shakedown of universities. If the administration succeeds in damaging the public universities that annoy him (ie, the ones in Democrat-run states) the strain will have a broader impact than his attack on wealthy, private schools.

The Ivies educate less than 2% of America’s college students. The vast majority—just shy of three-quarters of students—attend public universities like UCLA that are more extensively funded by taxpayers. Some of these schools do the most to foster upward mobility, yet they rarely make the news. An analysis by the Carnegie Foundation, a non-profit, and the American Council on Education (ACE), a trade association, identified 478 “opportunity colleges”, places where a smart local student has a shot at admission and where earnings after graduation are high. None of the Ivies made the list. Elite private universities excel at research but public ones produce lots of it too. Of the ten universities that receive the most grant funding from the NSF, seven are public and three are in the University of California (UC) system. UCLA ranks 7th, Harvard 15th and Columbia 19th (see chart).

Recognising the high stakes, the University of California’s Board of Regents, which oversees the entire ten-campus system, has been tight-lipped about their negotiations with the administration. Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, who sits on the board, has characteristically made his opinion known, however. “We’ll sue,” he has said. Whether UCLApursues a lengthy legal battle or settles for a large sum, it will be hard-pressed for funding. (A federal judge has already told the administration to restore some of the frozen grants.) Faculty and officials are hiking up to Sacramento, the state capital, to ask whether the legislature could help. New polling from Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies suggests that 58% of Californians would support increasing state funding for the UC system.

Before the DoJ released the results of its antisemitism investigation UCLA had already banned encampments and eliminated the use of “diversity statements” in hiring. Hours before the feds dropped the hammer the university had settled a lawsuit with Jewish students. Anna Markowitz, president of the UCLA Faculty Association, calls this “anticipatory obedience”. “The UC didn’t want to poke the bear,” she says. But “the bear is coming.” Administrators at America’s other public universities are also self-censoring. They are no doubt watching what happens in California while biting their fingernails.

Many public universities are hoping to be more successful than UCLAat staying under the radar. In June, after grantmaking slowed at the University of Washington, one of America’s biggest research machines, the outgoing university president told local radio in Seattle that she wants to “be pragmatic” and not “make big statements to make big statements”.

Public universities in Republican states have been reluctant to sign on to lawsuits against the federal government. That reflects local conservatism and also the fact that Mr Trump does not seem inclined to harass schools in places where he has had political success. At Miami Dade College in Florida, the country’s biggest community college, there has been no disruption. Pell Grants from the federal government cover tuition for 60% of students but Madeline Pumariega, the president, is not worried that the Trump administration will go after them. “Our students aren’t lying on the green grass looking up at the sky finding themselves, they’re working towards getting jobs,” she says. She reckons Mr Trump supports that.

When the government withheld NIH research grants from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Katie Britt, a senator for Alabama, wrote to the White House to argue that it was in the interest of the Make America Healthy Again movement to fund research on cancer and chronic diseases. She also spoke with Mr Trump. Soon $15bn in funds, for Alabama and other universities, were unfrozen. Her efforts “chastened the administration”, says one higher-education policy wonk.

Ohio State University, the alma mater of J.D. Vance, the vice-president, has lost some federal funds but not enough to force them to cut PhD programmes or sack post-docs. Ted Carter, its president, attributes their relative immunity to the fact that the school “stuck to [its] mission” and stayed out of politics. Pro-Palestinian encampments on its campus were swiftly shut down by police and university leaders. When Mr Carter visited the Oval Office with his championship-winning football team earlier this year he told Mr Trump that “Ohio State is the institution that is going to get it right.” Mr Trump responded: “I know you will.” ■

来源：左右图史