你和哈佛的距離，只差一棟樓

近日，亞裔控告哈佛大學(xué)招生歧視案庭審最新資料公開(kāi)，哈佛招生辦官員內(nèi)部郵件顯示，富裕且與哈佛建立長(zhǎng)期關(guān)系階層疑似存在錄取優(yōu)待，其中甚至有相關(guān)人員捐出了一棟樓，這其中白人學(xué)生超過(guò)亞裔以及非裔。哈佛招生辦負(fù)責(zé)人甚至被校方高層夸贊為“我的英雄”。

想去哈佛讀書(shū)?最好能捐棟樓

The numbers are ruthless: Out of more than 40,000 applications a year to Harvard University, not quite 2,000 make the final cut. Just one admitted for every 19 rejected. Every year high school seniors with straight A’s, perfect test scores and stellar recommendations wonder why they didn’t make it.

數(shù)據(jù)是殘酷的：每年有超過(guò)4萬(wàn)名學(xué)生申請(qǐng)哈佛大學(xué)，但僅有兩千人被錄取。每錄取一名學(xué)生，就有19名學(xué)生遭到拒絕。拿到全A、成績(jī)?nèi)珒?yōu)、手握重量級(jí)推薦信，每年都有很多這樣的高中生不知道為什么自己沒(méi)有被錄取。

Want a place at Harvard? Persuade your parents to give the university a nice gift. A new building, perhaps, or a million dollars for a fellowship. That sort of thing.

想在哈佛大學(xué)讀書(shū)嗎?說(shuō)服你的父母給這所大學(xué)送份好禮：一棟新樓，或者一百萬(wàn)美元(約合694萬(wàn)元人民幣)的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金，諸如此類。

It has long been understood that you can, to some extent, buy your way into many of the US’s prestigious universities. There are certainly plenty of examples of people with more money than sense being admitted to elite educational institutions.

長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)，人們一直認(rèn)為在某種程度上，美國(guó)的許多名牌大學(xué)花錢就可以上。有很多例子可以表明，精英教育機(jī)構(gòu)在錄取時(shí)會(huì)選擇有錢人，而不是有才的人。

Jared Kushner, for example, got into Harvard despite having a mediocre academic record. To be fair, this may have had nothing to do with his father pledging $2.5m to the university shortly before he was accepted. Perhaps the admissions office just had a hunch that this was the genius who was finally going to bring peace to the Middle East.

比如，特朗普的女婿賈里德•庫(kù)什納學(xué)生時(shí)期雖然成績(jī)平平，卻被哈佛大學(xué)錄取?；蛟S，這與他的父親曾在他被錄取之前承諾向哈佛捐贈(zèng)250萬(wàn)美元無(wú)關(guān)?；蛟S，招生辦公室只是預(yù)見(jiàn)到，他才是最終為中東帶來(lái)和平的天才。

 

 

亞裔控告哈佛招生歧視

哈佛大學(xué)等一些美國(guó)名校在招生過(guò)程中以“平權(quán)法案”為由，通過(guò)大幅提高錄取標(biāo)準(zhǔn)、設(shè)置“種族配額”等方式，將不少優(yōu)秀的亞裔學(xué)生擋在門外。

哈佛大學(xué)被控多年來(lái)在招生過(guò)程中蓄意歧視亞裔申請(qǐng)學(xué)生，位于波士頓的美國(guó)聯(lián)邦地區(qū)法院15日開(kāi)庭審理此案，引發(fā)全美關(guān)注。

 

 

While it is no secret that offering financial gifts to certain Ivy League universities may compensate for a lack of natural gifts, the extent to which Harvard’s admission process favors relatives of big donors is only now being laid bare. This is thanks to a lawsuit currently under way against Harvard that accuses the university of discriminating against Asian Americans.

雖然向某些常春藤盟校捐款可以彌補(bǔ)天資上的不足早已不是秘密，但哈佛在錄取過(guò)程中偏愛(ài)大金主的做法最近才被披露出來(lái)。這要?dú)w功于目前針對(duì)哈佛歧視亞裔的一場(chǎng)訴訟。

A 2013 email exchange among Harvard administrators, for example, was presented at the trial on Wednesday.

比如，上周三的庭審中公開(kāi)了一份2013年校方管理人員之間的郵件往來(lái)。

In one email (subject line: “My Hero”), the dean of the university’s Kennedy school of government commends the dean of admissions for doing a great job in extending offers to students with generous parents.

在一封標(biāo)題名為“我的英雄”的郵件中，哈佛大學(xué)肯尼迪政府學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)稱贊招生辦負(fù)責(zé)人(William Fitzsimmons)在招收富裕階層的子女方面做得很好。

“Once again you have done wonders. I am simply thrilled about the folks you were able to admit,” the email says. “[Redacted] has already committed to a building.” The other people described as “big wins” in the email were connected to donors who had “committed major money for fellowships”.

郵件中說(shuō)：“你再次創(chuàng)造了奇跡?？吹侥阏羞M(jìn)來(lái)的這些學(xué)生，我簡(jiǎn)直太開(kāi)心了。某某位家長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)承諾要捐一棟樓。”郵件中還說(shuō)，有些“金主”背后的捐贈(zèng)者還“承諾要捐一大筆獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金”。

Another email made public in the trial talked about rolling out the red carpet for an applicant whose family had donated $1.1m to Harvard. There is also an email exchange in which a Harvard development officer and an admissions dean discuss how much money they are likely to extract from a candidate. “Going forward, I don’t see a significant opportunity for further major gifts,” the email says. “[Redacted] had an art collection which conceivably could come our way. More probably it will go to [a] museum.”

庭審中，另一封被公開(kāi)的電子郵件談到，一位申請(qǐng)人的家人向哈佛大學(xué)捐贈(zèng)了110萬(wàn)美元，為他爭(zhēng)取到了入學(xué)資格。還有一封電子郵件中，一名哈佛大學(xué)發(fā)展官員和招生主任討論他們可能會(huì)從一名候選人身上榨取多少錢。郵件中寫(xiě)道。“進(jìn)一步說(shuō)，拿到更多捐贈(zèng)的機(jī)會(huì)不大。(捐贈(zèng)者)有件藝術(shù)收藏品，可以想見(jiàn)，有可能會(huì)給我們，但更有可能是送去博物館。”

 

 

本案中的原告辯稱，哈佛大學(xué)通過(guò)不斷采取一些較為模糊的措施來(lái)歧視亞裔美國(guó)人。盡管亞裔美國(guó)人預(yù)計(jì)在2022年占該校錄取人數(shù)的22.7%，比亞裔在美國(guó)人口中所占的比例高得多。但內(nèi)部審查幾年前指出，如果哈佛的衡量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)只有考試成績(jī)，亞裔錄取人數(shù)的占比將是43%。

根據(jù)庭審資料，過(guò)去六年，哈佛錄取的體育生、捐贈(zèng)者相關(guān)者、畢業(yè)生或教職員工家庭的傳統(tǒng)生中的白人學(xué)生達(dá)約2680人，超過(guò)這一期間錄取的所有亞裔學(xué)生人數(shù)2460人，而非裔和拉丁裔錄取生人數(shù)加起來(lái)才2693人。

其實(shí)，一些美國(guó)名校在招生時(shí)歧視亞裔學(xué)生已不是秘密。

普林斯頓大學(xué)一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，亞裔學(xué)生的SAT成績(jī)需要比白人高出140分，比拉美裔高270分，比非洲裔高450分才能進(jìn)入美國(guó)一流大學(xué)，超高的分?jǐn)?shù)線被稱為“亞裔稅”。

 

 

哈佛大學(xué)這樣回應(yīng)

Nonetheless, Fitzsimmons said Harvard has good reason to pay attention to backers.

但(招生辦負(fù)責(zé)人)費(fèi)茨西門斯說(shuō)，哈佛有充分理由對(duì)支持者給予更多關(guān)注。

"It is important for the long-term strength of the institution, in that we have the resources we need to, among other things, provide scholarships," he said.

他說(shuō)：“這對(duì)學(xué)校的長(zhǎng)期實(shí)力很重要，這樣我們才能擁有提供獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金等所需的資源。”

費(fèi)茨西門斯說(shuō)，哈佛給予優(yōu)待的類別很多，不僅限于體育生、捐贈(zèng)生和傳統(tǒng)生。

Harvard also offers an advantage to applicants from Boston and Cambridge, low-income students, and those from more rural states, Fitzsimmons said.

他說(shuō)，哈佛大學(xué)給予招生優(yōu)待的還包括來(lái)自波士頓和劍橋的學(xué)生、低收入學(xué)生、以及較偏遠(yuǎn)州的申請(qǐng)者。

但大多數(shù)哈佛學(xué)生都來(lái)自富裕家庭。

Harvard’s 2019 class is 40 percent white, 24 percent Asian-American, 14 percent African-American and 14 percent Hispanic — but a massive 82 percent of those scholars are economically advantaged, said Kahlenberg.

哈佛大學(xué)2019級(jí)新生中有40%是白人，24%是亞裔，14%是非洲裔、還有14%是西班牙裔。但有多達(dá)82%的學(xué)生來(lái)自富裕家庭。

Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana later confirmed that the school’s own data shows 30 percent of students at Harvard come from the top 5 percent of household incomes in the US — earning more than $150,000 a year.

哈佛大學(xué)學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)拉凱什·庫(kù)拉納之后確認(rèn)說(shuō)，學(xué)校統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，30%的學(xué)生來(lái)自家庭收入位列全美家庭收入前5%的家庭，也就是家庭年收入超過(guò)15萬(wàn)美元。

“Harvard University is literally the richest university in the entire country. [Its] $37 billion endowment is bigger than the GDP of half the world’s countries,” Richard Kahlenberg said.

(起訴團(tuán)體的專家證人)理查德·卡倫伯格說(shuō)：“實(shí)際上哈佛大學(xué)已經(jīng)成為全美最有錢的大學(xué)，學(xué)校獲得的370億美元的捐贈(zèng)比全球半數(shù)國(guó)家的國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值都要高。”

Talking to reporters outside the courtroom, one of Harvard's lawyers, William Lee, emphasized that while the children of some donors get in, some don't. He added that there's no evidence the preference affects Asian-Americans.

哈佛大學(xué)的一位律師威廉·李在法庭外接受記者采訪時(shí)強(qiáng)調(diào)，盡管一些捐贈(zèng)者的子女獲得錄取，也有另一部分沒(méi)被錄取。沒(méi)有證據(jù)表明這種招生偏好對(duì)亞裔學(xué)生有影響。

美國(guó)司法部正就此調(diào)查

哈佛大學(xué)歧視亞裔問(wèn)題終于受到美國(guó)政府關(guān)注，司法部正在就此進(jìn)行調(diào)查。

但哈佛大學(xué)方面沒(méi)有配合調(diào)查，其律師聲稱招生方式已獲得聯(lián)邦法院認(rèn)可。

美國(guó)司法部官員表示，司法部“別無(wú)選擇，只能認(rèn)定哈佛大學(xué)違反民權(quán)法第六條”。

美國(guó)民權(quán)法第六條規(guī)定，任何人在美國(guó)不得因種族、膚色或出生地而受到任何接受聯(lián)邦財(cái)政資助的項(xiàng)目或活動(dòng)的歧視。

美國(guó)司法部指責(zé)哈佛大學(xué)不配合調(diào)查，“試圖逃避‘第六條’的責(zé)任”。

盡管調(diào)查遇到困難，司法部堅(jiān)持要求哈佛大學(xué)提交招生文件。如果12月1日前哈佛大學(xué)仍未提交，司法部可能會(huì)提起訴訟。

Conservatives love to decry affirmative action as “reverse racism” and condemn the idea of racial quotas. What this lawsuit, perhaps inadvertently, has made abundantly clear, however, is that the most widespread affirmative action programs at play in elite institutions don’t help minority racial groups – they help rich, predominantly white people.

保守派們喜歡譴責(zé)平權(quán)法案是“逆向的種族主義”，譴責(zé)種族配額的觀念。然而，這場(chǎng)官司，也許是無(wú)意中弄清楚了一件事，在精英機(jī)構(gòu)中廣泛實(shí)施的平權(quán)行動(dòng)計(jì)劃并沒(méi)有幫助少數(shù)族裔，他們幫助的是富人，而且主要是白人。