Response to Executive Order on Refugee and Immigration Policy

对近日难民与移民政策行政令的回应：校长致全校师生书

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

亲爱的哥大诸君，

With the executive order issued by President Trump barring admission to the United States of Syrian refugees and imposing a 90-day ban on all immigrant and nonimmigrant entry from seven Muslim-majority nations, the fear so many have had about federal policies being changed in ways that could affect our community has become disturbingly real.

特朗普总统签署了行政命令，阻止叙利亚难民进入美国，并且禁止来自七个穆斯林国家的移民和非移民在未来九十天内入境。过去，我们曾一度担忧联邦政策的改变会影响我们社区，时至今日，曾经的恐慌已变为令人不安的事实。

The public controversy and legal debate over the President’s order is intense.  Among the many strong petitions and compelling statements that have been issued is one from the Association of American Universities（AAU）, of which Columbia is a member.  We join with many peers in decrying this action as discriminatory, damaging to America’s leadership in higher education, and contrary to our nation’s core values and founding principles.

有关总统政令的公共论战与法律辩论日趋激烈。在众多强烈的请愿与颇具说服力的声明中，哥伦比亚大学所在的美国大学联盟（AAU）亦发表了声明。我们与诸多同仁一道，共同谴责这一歧视性的总统政令，它破坏了美国在高等教育领域的领导地位，也与吾国吾民的核心价值以及立国之本相冲突。

At a practical level, we are advising community members and visiting scholars from the designated countries to suspend plans for international travel.  At the moment, we do not know of any Columbia students, faculty, or staff from the seven designated countries who are currently abroad.  In the meantime, we urge anyone seeking further guidance to contact our International Students and Scholars Office（ISSO）.

从实际层面出发，我们建议来自上述国家的哥大社区成员与访问学者暂缓国际旅行的计划。此刻，我们暂时不知道是否有来自指定七国的哥大学生、教授、员工人在国外。与此同时，我们强烈建议任何需要帮助的人与哥大国际学生学者办公室（ISSO）取得联络。

At a more fundamental level, this order undermines the nation’s continuing commitment to remain open to the exchange of people and ideas.  We must not underestimate the scale of its impact.  An estimated 17,000 international students in the U.S. are from the seven nations covered by the entry ban.  Scholars planning to travel to the United States for meetings and conferences at our colleges and universities will effectively be barred from attending.  If this order stands, there is the certainty of a profound impact on our University community, which is committed to welcoming students, faculty, and staff from around the world, as well as across the nation.

从更根本的层面出发，这一政令损害了美国在保持人与想法持续互动方面的承诺。我们绝不能低估这一政令可能影响的范围。目前，约一万七千名来自指定七国的国际学生会被入境禁令影响。这些国家的学者到访美国大学参加会面与论坛的计划将无法实现。如果政令持续下去，它终将给哥大社区的承诺造成极大的冲击：我们一直以来欢迎着来自世界与美国各地的学生、教授与员工。

As I have said on many occasions, it is critically important that the University, as such, not take stands on ideological or political issues.  Yet it is also true that the University, as an institution in the society, must step forward to object when policies and state action conflict with its fundamental values, and especially when they bespeak purposes and a mentality that are at odds with our basic mission.  This is such a case. 

一如我在不同场合多次重申：对于哥伦比亚大学来说极其重要的是 —— 一如“大学”本身的字面意义所说 —— 我们不在意识形态或政治问题上站队。但，对于哥大来说同样重要的是，作为这个社会中的一个机构，我们必须站出来反对那些与我们立国之本的价值观相抵的政策与国家行为，尤其是当它们所阐明的目的与心态与我们最基本的使命相左的时候。现在，就是这样的一个时刻。

It is important to remind ourselves that the United States has not, except in episodes of national shame, excluded individuals from elsewhere in the world because of their religious or political beliefs.  We have learned that generalized fears of threats to our security do not justify exceptions to our founding ideals.  There are many powerful and self-evident reasons not to abandon these core values, but among them is the fact that invidious discrimination often adds fuel to deeply harmful stereotypes and hostility affecting our own citizens.  

我们需要提醒自己，美利坚合众国除了令吾国蒙羞的时代之外，未曾出于宗教或政治信仰的原因排斥过来自他国的个人。我们早已了然，以“威胁国家安全”为由而产生的以偏概全的恐惧不该正当化对基本原则的破坏。有着太多强大而不证自明的理由阻止我们轻易放弃这些核心价值。在这些理由之中不可忽视的事实是：煽动仇恨的歧视只会给极度伤人的刻板印象和敌意煽风点火，侵扰我们的公民。

It is with regret that I have to send this communication.  

       对必须发出此通讯一事，我深感遗憾。

Sincerely,

真诚的，

Lee C. Bollinger 

李.C.布林格

2017年1月19日，特朗普总统上台前夜，哥大学生在alma mater雕像下抗议

JAIME DANIES / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER, Columbia spectator 

摄影：哥伦比亚每日观察者资深摄影Jamie Danies

The translation is for your reference only

译文仅供参考，内容以英文为准