哈佛大學(xué)的美譽被特權(quán)與丑聞玷染

There exists a species of person — typically a well-groomed overachiever — who, when asked where he or she went to college, rather than state its name directly, will provide a Russian nesting doll set of geographical responses.

有這樣一種人——通常是穿著考究、成就非凡之士——當(dāng)你問他或她讀的是哪間大學(xué)，他們不會直接說出校名，而是用一組俄羅斯套娃般的地理名詞回應(yīng)。

In New England. Massachusetts. Well, Boston. Um ... Cambridge.

新英格蘭。馬薩諸塞。嗯，波士頓。呃……坎布里奇。

Finally, sotto voce, with an apologetic wince or sheepish smile, anticipating the word’s being volleyed back in an affected Boston Brahmin accent: Harvard.

最后，悄聲細(xì)語地，擺出一種歉疚的窘態(tài)或羞怯的微笑，用造作的波士頓婆羅門口音，說出一個他們料想定引起巨大反響的詞：哈佛。

For decades, circumspect students and alumni of the nation’s oldest university have played “this unbearable little game,” said William Deresiewicz, author of “Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite & the Way to a Meaningful Life.” “They’re coy, because they don’t want to destroy our egos, but they can’t wait for the moment they drop the ‘H-bomb.'”

幾十年來，出身本國最古老大學(xué)的這些言辭謹(jǐn)慎的在讀生和畢業(yè)生們，一直在玩著廉姆·德萊塞維茨(William Deresiewicz)所說的“一個讓人抓狂的小游戲”。這位《優(yōu)秀的綿羊——失當(dāng)?shù)拿绹⒔逃约叭绾螕碛懈挥谝饬x的人生》(Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite & the Way to a Meaningful Life)一書的作者說，“他們這樣忸忸怩怩，是因為不想摧毀我們的自尊，但是，他們又迫不及待地想把那顆H打頭的氫彈扔下來。”

(Marc Philippe Eskenazi, a writer and comedian who graduated from Harvard in 2010, has an incisive stand-up riff in which he cycles through these cagey contortions.)

(2010年畢業(yè)于哈佛的作家、單口相聲演員馬克·菲利普·埃什肯納齊[Marc Philippe Eskenazi]有個犀利的單口段子，將這套小心翼翼的花樣表演一一呈現(xiàn)。)

This coyness may be no crime, but a genuine wish not to appear bigheaded for their association with an institution that is shorthand for the acme of academe. No matter Harvard’s perch in that year’s rankings in U.S. News & World Report (currently No. 2, after Princeton), it remains peerless in global cachet. It is the university boasting the most presidents among its graduates (eight, including the law and business schools), and the one that, despite prohibitions against on-campus filming, is cast in movies and TV shows, for every genre from love stories to law-school comedies, to italicize its characters’ intellects and — how do you like them apples? — elite status.

這種矯情不是什么罪，可能只是真心希望不要因為自己歸屬于一個堪稱學(xué)術(shù)巔峰代名詞的機構(gòu)而顯得自大。無論那一年它在《美國新聞與世界報道》(U.S. News & World Report)上排第幾(目前屈居第二，僅次于普林斯頓)，哈佛在世界上的聲望始終是無人能及的。它擁有造就最多總統(tǒng)的傲人成就(將法學(xué)院和商學(xué)院畢業(yè)生包括在內(nèi)共計八人)，盡管校園內(nèi)禁止拍攝，它仍然出現(xiàn)在從愛情片到法學(xué)院喜劇的各種影視劇中，以此突顯劇中人物的杰出才智，以及精英地位——看到這個你們就乖乖閉上嘴吧。

Yet after several incidents that have besmirched the university’s reputation, and in an era of heightened self-consciousness over privilege, that formerly contrived embarrassment may be ceding to sincere shame and a reassessment of the merits of a Harvard education.

然而，經(jīng)過一系列有損學(xué)校清譽的事件，在加上這樣一個對特權(quán)格外敏感的時代，原本生造出來的羞愧，可能將演變成一種真正的恥辱，并對這種哈佛出身的價值進(jìn)行重新的評估。

The university has been in the news quite a bit lately. Its gargantuan $35.7 billion endowment, the largest in the country by far, was cited in articles about dining-hall workers who went on a successful three-week strike for a salary increase to $35,000 per year. The school canceled the men’s soccer team’s season after the discovery of a 2012 “scouting report” in which team members rated the sexual appeal of individuals on the women’s team; the men’s cross-country team was just placed on athletic probation for doing the same thing in 2014.

近年來哈佛頻頻見諸報端。學(xué)校餐廳的工人舉行了為期三周的罷工，成功將年薪漲至3.5萬美元，在一篇報道此事的文章中，提到哈佛坐擁357億美元的捐款，為全美最高，遠(yuǎn)超其他任何一所院校。校方取消了男子足球校隊整個賽季的賽事，因為發(fā)現(xiàn)在2012年的一份“星探報告”中，男隊員們對女隊隊員的性吸引力進(jìn)行了評分;男子越野隊則剛剛因為在2014年有類似的行為，被給予“運動察看”(athletic probation)處分。

The brand has also had an unexpected collision with that of the incoming presidential administration. Stephen K. Bannon, Donald J. Trump’s chief strategist and the former executive chair of Breitbart News, is a 1985 graduate of Harvard Business School. More than 600 female students and alumnae signed a letter to The New York Times denouncing his selection by Trump, accusing him of engineering “a movement that preaches white nationalism, racism, misogyny and hatred.” Bannon dropped out of a postelection event at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, perhaps because of a planned large protest.

這個品牌也同即將上任的新一屆政府產(chǎn)生了意外的沖突。唐納德·J·特朗普(Donald J. Trump)的首席策略師及布萊巴特新聞(Breitbart News)網(wǎng)站前董事長史蒂芬·K·班農(nóng)(Stephen K. Bannon)1985年畢業(yè)于哈佛商學(xué)院。600多名該校女學(xué)生和女性校友簽名致信《紐約時報》譴責(zé)特朗普選擇他，并指責(zé)班農(nóng)策劃了“一場宣揚白人民族主義、種族主義、歧視女性和仇恨的運動”。班農(nóng)沒有參加一場在哈佛大學(xué)約翰·F·肯尼迪政府學(xué)院(John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard)舉行的選后活動，或許是因為有人計劃發(fā)起大規(guī)?？棺h行動。

Daniel Golden’s 2006 book, “The Price of Admission,” about how the rich buy their way into elite schools, has become newly relevant for its disclosure that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, received acceptance to Harvard despite an unremarkable academic record, possibly thanks to his father’s donation of $2.5 million. (A spokeswoman for Kushner denied the allegation, noting that Kushner graduated with honors; Golden observed that, in a climate of rampant grade inflation, so did about 90 percent of Kushner’s graduating class of 2003.)

丹尼爾·戈爾登(Daniel Golden)于2006年出版的書《入學(xué)的價格》(The Price of Admission)講述富人如何靠花錢進(jìn)入精英學(xué)校，這本書最近變得更加相關(guān)，因為它披露特朗普的女婿，賈里德·庫什納(Jared Kushner)盡管學(xué)術(shù)紀(jì)錄平平，卻被哈佛錄取，而這可能是因為他父親捐贈了250萬美元。(庫什納的發(fā)言人否認(rèn)了這一指控，指出庫什納畢業(yè)時拿到了榮譽學(xué)位;戈爾登指出，在分?jǐn)?shù)通脹盛行的大環(huán)境下，庫什納2003年畢業(yè)時，他那一屆約有90%的學(xué)生都拿到了榮譽學(xué)位。)

Along with members of Trump’s inner circle, some of Harvard’s most notable recent students include Mark Zuckerberg, recently under fire for the dissemination of fake news on Facebook, and an annually replenishing army of aspiring Gekkos who are routinely blamed, accurately or not, for the country’s economic inequality and crises. (The acquisitive-rather-than-inquisitive Harvard graduate is not a baseless stereotype: Nearly two-fifths of the class of 2016 said they were going into finance or consulting, with an additional 14 percent heading into technology. By comparison, just 6 percent went into nonprofit or public service work, and 4 percent into education.)

除了特朗普內(nèi)部圈子的幾個成員，哈佛大學(xué)近期最著名的學(xué)生還包括馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)，最近他因為Facebook上假新聞的傳播而遭到抨擊，此外還有大批野心勃勃的華爾街大亨，他們常被指責(zé)(不管正確與否)造成了國家的經(jīng)濟不平等和危機，他們的名單每年都在擴充。(哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)生更為貪婪而不是更愛鉆研，這并不是一個毫無根據(jù)的刻板印象：2016年的學(xué)生中，有近2/5表示他們正準(zhǔn)備進(jìn)入金融或咨詢領(lǐng)域，另有14%的人選擇科技業(yè)，相比之下，只有6%的人進(jìn)入非營利或公共服務(wù)領(lǐng)域，4%的人進(jìn)入教育領(lǐng)域。)

The rose-garden perfume of privilege — as charged a word as can be found on campuses these days — emanating from anyone with a Harvard diploma receives more censure now than ever, whether that privilege came in the form of significant parental help in gaining admission or was acquired at the school and now opens endless doors.

任何擁有哈佛文憑的人身上都散發(fā)著特權(quán)階層的玫瑰園香氣――近日來，“特權(quán)”這個詞可以在校園里激發(fā)強烈的反應(yīng)――無論其特權(quán)是父母為他們?nèi)〉萌雽W(xué)資格的重大幫助，還是他們在校期間獲得的，都會在畢業(yè)后幫他們創(chuàng)造無數(shù)機會，而現(xiàn)如今，這種特權(quán)氣息比以往任何時候都要受到更多譴責(zé)。

Harvard remains flush with children of the rich. According to a survey of the current freshman class, over a third of the student body comes from families earning more than $250,000 a year (the wealthiest 4 percent of households), with more students from the $500,000-and-up 1 percenters than $40,000-and-below families. These demographics are similar to those found at other selective colleges, as is Harvard’s discrepancy between its stated commitment to economic diversity and whom it accepts. A 2005 book, “Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education,” determined that, all else being equal, top schools do not offer any admission advantage to low-income students, despite lip service to the contrary.

哈佛大學(xué)中依然充斥著富人的子女。根據(jù)對目前大一新生的調(diào)查，超過1/3的學(xué)生來自年收入超過25萬美元的家庭(最富有的4%的家庭)，來自年收入在50萬美元及以上的“百里挑一”家庭的學(xué)生人數(shù)超過來自年收入在4萬美元及以下家庭學(xué)生。這些人口統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)與其他擇優(yōu)錄取學(xué)生的大學(xué)類似，表明哈佛大學(xué)在其對經(jīng)濟多樣性的承諾與招生的實際情況之間存在差異。2005年的《平等和美國高等教育的優(yōu)越性》(Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education)一書證實，在其他條件相同情況下，名校在錄取學(xué)生時不會更傾向于低收入學(xué)生，盡管他們口頭的說法完全相反。

Yet the number of Harvard applications has soared the past three years, now at a record high, with 34 percent more for the class of 2020 than for 2013. Some parents, though, including alumni, are rebelling against the Harvard-or-bust mentality, not only because of the stresses it places on their overworked children, but from misgivings about the conformist and careerist atmosphere of the Ivy Leagues.

然而，哈佛的入學(xué)申請數(shù)量在過去三年中出現(xiàn)激增，現(xiàn)在達(dá)到了創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的數(shù)量，2020年畢業(yè)的那一屆要比2013年多出34%。然而，包括哈佛校友在內(nèi)的一些家長反對“不上哈佛就等于失敗”的心態(tài)，不僅因為這對過度勞累的孩子們造成了壓力，而且因為他們對常青藤聯(lián)盟學(xué)校的墨守成規(guī)和事業(yè)狂氛圍充滿疑慮。

Nick F. Barber, a current senior, wrote in 2014 in The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper, that “privilege — and more importantly what privilege says about each of our characters — makes us uncomfortable. Our privilege forces us to question our worthiness and our merit, two of the things most highly valued at an institution like this one.”

尼克·F·巴伯(Nick F. Barber)是大四學(xué)生，2014年，他在學(xué)生日報《哈佛深紅》(The Harvard Crimson)上撰文寫道，“特權(quán)――更重要的是，特權(quán)向他人傳遞出的關(guān)于我們的品性的信息――令我們不舒服。我們的特權(quán)迫使我們質(zhì)疑自己的價值，是否夠好，在我們這樣的院校，這是最受重視的兩件事。”