美國東部時間8月30日晚，哥倫比亞大學為2024屆本科新生舉辦了一場特別又隆重的線上開學典禮，哥大校長李·布林格也在典禮上發表開學演講。以下為李·布林格校長的演講全文。
哥倫比亞大學校長 李·布林格
在這樣一個特殊又意義重大的時刻，首先我想向你們致以歡迎和問候。
I am sending you this welcome in a moment of great poignancy.
開學典禮是年度最盛大的學術儀式之一，通常只有畢業典禮能與之媲美。這兩個大學校歷上的重要時刻一個標誌著新成員的加入，一個標誌著畢業生們在完成學業生涯中的關鍵階段後離開。每個人都情緒高昂，心中充滿了成就感、期待以及對那些見證他們一路走來的人們的感激，尤其是對自己的父母。
The formal Convocation is one of the great academic ceremonies of the year, matched only by Commencement. These two great moments in the University calendar mark the entrance of our newest members and the departure of those students who have completed a critical stage in their education with us. Each is filled with high emotions – the sense of accomplishment, of anticipation, and of gratitude to those – most notably the parents – who have seen them through to this point in life.
你們正站在人生的新起點上，多年來我也十分有幸以校長這個身份與你們分享這個時刻，但我從未想到有一天我不得不以線上的形式參與其中。儘管如此，我為你們自豪，因你們感到溫暖，我也決心在未來幾年裡為你們提供世界最頂尖的教育。這種感覺一如既往，甚至可能更加的強烈，因為我們共同珍視的人際互動被暫時剝奪了。
You are at the beginning, and in all the years I have been fortunate enough to be in this role and to stand with you at the outset, never did I imagine that I would have to do this virtually. But I can assure you of this, that the feelings of pride and warmth for you and the determination to provide you with the best educational experience in the world in the years ahead are just as strong as ever, and perhaps even stronger because we have been deprived, for the moment, of that personal interaction we value so deeply.
此時此刻，我知道你們的生活一定受到了強烈的干擾。不可否認，我們正與一場歷史性的危機作鬥爭，你們這一代青年人尤其受到影響。一想到你們的希望和夢想被改變、被部分擱置，我深感痛心。
Now, I realize that the disruption you must be feeling in your lives at this time must be intense. There is no denying the facts that we are all struggling with a crisis of historic proportions and that young people like yourselves are being especially affected. The idea that your hopes and dreams have been modified and at least partially put on hold is hard to deal with.
但我想向你們保證幾件事情。
But I want to assure you of several things.
第一，學校裡的每一位教職員工都會全心全意地幫助你們，幫助我們每一個人，一同度過這段非常時期。我們尚不清楚這種狀況會持續多久，但我相信我們很快可以恢復如常。在那之前，我們將調整和改善我們的教學模式和課程，為你們提供哥倫比亞大學所獨有的卓越教育。
The first is that every single faculty member and staff of the University is completely and totally dedicated to helping you, and us, get through this period. We do not know how long this will last, but I am optimistic that there will come a point soon when we will be returning to normal. Until then, we are reshaping and redesigning our teaching and courses to provide you with the extraordinary education that Columbia distinctively offers.
第二，請記住將來我們會有很長一段時間在一起。雖然這是一個極具挑戰的開端，但我們仍然有時間來彌補我們現在不得不放棄的東西。我保證這一切都會實現。
The second observation I want to offer now is to remember that we will have a long time together. And, although this is a challenging start, we will have time to make up for what we have had to forego at the beginning. I promise this will happen.
第三點也是我想表達的最後一點，它非常重要但同時也有些複雜。它真正關乎到我們如何學習，如何在生命的旅途中成為我們自己，以及所有這些如何與我們所在的當下相關聯。
The third and last thought I want to convey here is extremely important but quite a bit more complicated. It really is about how we learn, about how we become who we are over the course of our lives, and about how all of that relates to this moment in time.
讓我從我們如何學習講起。
Let me begin with how we learn.
我在高校裡度過了幾乎整個職業生涯，人們或許預料到我發表如下觀點，但我的確相信，這個世界上最重要的事情是培養思想，這正是生活的事實。民主是一種思想。自由市場經濟是一種思想。治療疾病也是一種思想。我們的生活根基便是這些思想、理論——告訴我們世界如何運轉，我們又應該如何存在於這個世界上。
As someone who has spent nearly all of my professional life in the academy, I might be expected to say the following; it is a fact of life, I believe, that the most important thing in the world is ideas. Democracy is an idea; a free market economy is an idea; the treatment of disease is an idea. Ideas, theories about how the world works and about how we should be in the world, these are the foundations of how we live.
然而，培養思想的方式多種多樣，比如在哥倫比亞大學接受教育（這可以說是最好的方式之一），但學會觀察這個世界並付諸實踐也是一種方式。事實上，這種方法為我們提供了一個機會，幫助我們發展出真正切實可行的想法。最佳的學習方式通常是將觀察與行動相結合，在思考和實踐之間不斷交互碰撞。
There are, however, many ways in which we form our ideas. Pursuing an education at Columbia University is one way (one of the best! Of course). But observing and acting in the world is another way, too; a way which also provides us with the opportunity to develop ideas that will work in fact. The best way to learn is usually a combination of these two methods, a continual process of interaction and interchange between reflection, on the one hand, and action, on the other hand.
如果我們暫且將上述視為真理（且許多嚴謹的學者都以這樣或那樣的形式得出了相同的結論），那麼在重大事件發生時期的學習對我們的成長是有幫助的。我們正處在這樣一個時期。大流行病對我們的健康、經濟、社會結構和我們的生活方式造成了歷史性、全球性的威脅。與此同時，美國以及世界上的許多其他國家也面臨著民主危機。美國的民主制度中存在著長達幾個世紀的不平等和不公正危機，這場危機持續以極其有害的方式顯現出來，尤其體現在非裔美國人的生活中。反觀國際舞臺，亦是危機重重。
Now, if this is true (and many serious minds have come to this conclusion, in one form or another), then it can be helpful to learning well that we learn in a time of momentous events. And we are most certainly in a time of momentous events. There is the pandemic, of course; an historic, world-wide threat to our health, our economies, our social fabric, and our ways of life. There is also, however, simultaneously, a crisis of democracy now confronting the United States, as well as many nations around the world. And within our democracy there is a crisis of a centuries-long inequality and injustice that continues to manifest itself in extremely harmful ways, particularly in the lived experience of African Americans. There are other crises, too, many on the international stage.
所有的這些危機都鼓舞和動員著人性中最好的一面來應對它們。我們看到人們在尋求更好的醫保、經濟復甦和社會結構平衡。我們看到人們為反對獨裁傾向、維護美國憲政民主制度中的必要組成部分——尊重事實和真理、寬容人民和觀點、在行使權力時剋制並遵守法規——所付出的高尚努力。在不平等、歧視等問題上，我們見證了第二次民權運動的開始。
With respect to every one of these crises, there is a heartening mobilization of the best sides of humanity to grapple with them, and we see the quest for better health care, economic rejuvenation, and maintenance of the social fabric; we see noble efforts to call out authoritarian tendencies and to maintain the essential ingredients of a system of constitutional democracy – respect to facts and truth, tolerance of peoples and viewpoints, and observance of restraint in the exercise of power; and, with respect to the pernicious problems of inequality and discrimination, we have the beginnings of a Second Civil Rights Movement.
你們開啟大學生活的同時，也生活在這個意義重大、舉足輕重的時刻。在未來的幾十年甚至幾百年時間裡，人們將對這一時期展開一系列評論、研究、分析、回顧、闡釋和評估。而你們也是這一時期的一部分，生活在其中，受其影響，受其教導，受其傷害，或許也得到它的幫助。
You are launching your college career while living in this enormously significant and fraught moment. It will be remarked on, studied, analyzed, reviewed, interpreted and assessed for decades and even centuries to come. And you were in it, part of it, affected by it, taught by it, hurt by it, perhaps helped by it.
未來在哥大的課堂上，你們遇到的幾乎所有思想都與這個世界有關。對你們，對我們來說，它們不是抽象的、脫離現實的，而是與我們的生活息息相關。若是在更為平和的時期，這段教育經歷又會變得不一樣。
And nearly all of the ideas you will encounter in your classes will have relevance to this world. For you, and for us, they will not be abstractions, or detached from reality, but rather blindingly and illuminatingly relevant. In more subdued or placid times, that is not the same educational experience.
我還想補充一點，哥倫比亞大學肩負的使命不僅僅是引領你們發現思想，還會幫助你們將這些想法帶到世界的構建中。我們將通過多種方式為你們提供參與、學習和思考世界的機會。不管我們現在歷經的困難有多艱鉅，請記住，在這當中總有一些東西是非常特別的，甚至對你們習得哥大教育的核心大有裨益。
I should add that we at Columbia have taken on the mission of not only leading in the discovery of ideas but also in the bringing of these ideas to the making of the world. So, in a variety of ways, we want to provide chances for you to participate in the world, as well as study and think about it. And, so as hard as what we are going through now is, always keep in mind that there is something profoundly special and even beneficial to the core enterprise of the Columbia education you are receiving.
最後我想說，我非常期待當面見到你們。希望當我們的學術生活得以恢復常態，我能在我的第一修正案課堂上遇到大家。儘管今天形式簡單，我在此由衷地祝賀各位加入哥倫比亞大學，並祝你們在未來的日子裡好運。
Still, I want to close by saying how much I look forward to seeing you in person, perhaps even having you in my course on the First Amendment, when the ordinary rhythms of our academic lives can be renewed. For now, in this painfully removed form, I say congratulations on joining us at Columbia and good luck in the years ahead.
*本文綜合整理自：
Lee Bollinger, "2020 Convocation Address", Office of the President, Columbia University
*本文圖片來源：
Columbia University Facebook
Countdown to Columbia, Columbia University Convocation 2020
Columbia Undergraduate Admissions
