By

Looking out the window of a plane flying over Boulder, Colorado,recently, I was reminded how much American universities stick out from their surroundings.

2I’d never been to Boulder, or visited the University of Colorado’s flagship campus there, but even from 30,000 feet,I could tell exactly where it started and ended. The red-tile roofs and quadrangles of the campus formed a little self-contained world, totally distinct from the grid of single-family homes1single-family home 獨棟房，一般為單戶家庭而建造。that surrounded it.

3In urban universities2urban university 市區(qū)大學(xué)，指美國和加拿大地處市區(qū)并以所在市區(qū)為重點服務(wù)對象的大學(xué)。, the dividing line between the campus and the community can be even starker. At the University of Southern California, for example, students must check in with security officers when entering the gates of the university at night. At Yale, castlelike architecture makes the campus feel like a fortified3fortify 筑城防御；增強，加固。enclave4enclave 飛地（某國或某市境內(nèi)隸屬外國或外市，具有不同宗教、文化或民族的領(lǐng)土）。. The elite American university today is a paradox:Even as concerns about social justice continue to preoccupy students and administrations, these universities often seem to be out of touch with the society they claim to care so much about. Many on the right and in the center believe universities have become ideological echo chambers5echo chamber 回音室，常用于“回音室效應(yīng)”（echo chamber effect），即如果意見相近的聲音在一個相對封閉的環(huán)境中不斷重復(fù)，就會讓此環(huán)境中的大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為這些扭曲的故事就是真相和真理，不知不覺中窄化自己的眼界和理解，從而走向故步自封甚至偏執(zhí)極化。. Some on the left see them as “sepulchers6sepulcher 墳?zāi)?，葬身之地。for radical thought.”

最近，我乘飛機飛過科羅拉多州博爾德縣上空。透過舷窗向外望去，我不禁意識到，美國的大學(xué)在周邊環(huán)境的映襯下竟是如此醒目。

2我從未去過博爾德縣，也沒有參觀過科羅拉多大學(xué)的這座主校區(qū)，可即便是從三萬英尺的高度俯瞰，我照樣能準(zhǔn)確辨別校區(qū)邊界。紅瓦屋頂與方形校園自成一體，構(gòu)成了與周邊網(wǎng)格化的獨戶式住宅截然不同的小世界。

3在市區(qū)大學(xué)，校園與社區(qū)之間的界線會更加分明。比如在南加利福尼亞大學(xué)，學(xué)生夜間入校時必須在安保人員處登記。在耶魯，城堡造型的建筑讓校園看上去像是筑有防御工事的飛地。今天的美國精英大學(xué)本身就自相矛盾：盡管學(xué)生和學(xué)校管理部門始終專注社會公正問題，這些大學(xué)卻往往與其聲稱甚為關(guān)注的社會相脫節(jié)。許多右翼和中間派認(rèn)為，大學(xué)已成為附和意識形態(tài)的“回音室”，而左翼一些觀點則將大學(xué)視為“埋葬激進思想的墳?zāi)埂薄?/p>

4Public debate over the state of higher education has intensified in recent years. Ideology and institutional culture get frequent attention, but a key factor is often ignored: geography.

5The campus is a uniquely American invention. (The term originated in the late 1700s to describe Princeton.) Efforts to create separate environments for scholars came about at a time when elite American opinion was convinced that cities were hotbeds of moral corruption. Keeping students in rural areas and on self-contained campuses, it was thought, would protect their virtue.

6Though such ideas have lost their appeal in recent years, to this day American universities are radically more isolated from their surrounding communities than their European counterparts are. And being situated around a strongly defined central campus, often featuring trademark Gothic-style architecture, remains a point of pride for elite American universities.

4近年來，關(guān)于高等教育現(xiàn)狀的公開辯論愈發(fā)激烈。意識形態(tài)和機構(gòu)文化屢受關(guān)注，但地理這一關(guān)鍵因素卻常被忽略。

5校園是美國特有的產(chǎn)物。（該詞最早見于18 世紀(jì)末，用來形容普林斯頓大學(xué)。）美國精英派一度堅信，城市是滋生道德腐化的溫床，于是便著手為學(xué)者打造獨立的環(huán)境。人們認(rèn)為，將學(xué)生安置在鄉(xiāng)村地區(qū)自成一體的校園里，可以保護他們的德行。

6盡管此類觀點近年來已失去熱度，時至今日，與歐洲大學(xué)相比，美國的大學(xué)從根本上講更脫離周邊社區(qū)。輪廓分明的中心校區(qū)往往以標(biāo)志性的哥特式建筑為特色，這一直是美國精英大學(xué)引以為傲之處。

7But the campus, by design, restricts opportunities to encounter people from a wider range of professions, education levels and class backgrounds. Of course, students like to spend time with other students, and scholars associate with other scholars. And that’s good for education and research. But there’s no need to enforce a geographical separation from society on top of it.

8We all instinctively extrapolate7extrapolate 推斷，推知。insights from our own communities and day-to-day interactions, imagining they are true about the nation at large. Inevitably, that means our view of the country is a little distorted—but for those in the university, the distortions can be extreme. Stuck on campus, academics risk limiting their knowledge and toleration of a wider sweep of American society.

9To put it another way, what’s most dangerous for the health of America’s intellectual elite is not that most professors have similar cultural tastes and similar liberal politics. That will probably always be the case. It’s that the campus setup makes it easy for them to forget that reasonable people often don’t share their outlook.

7然而，校園從設(shè)計上就限制了拓展交際圈的機會，妨礙結(jié)識不同職業(yè)、學(xué)歷和階層背景的群體。當(dāng)然，學(xué)生喜歡與其他學(xué)生在一起，學(xué)者愿意同其他學(xué)者交往，這有利于開展教育和研究，但沒必要在此基礎(chǔ)上再強加一條地理界線，把校園與社會分隔開。

8我們都本能地基于自己所在的社區(qū)和日常交往做出推斷，覺得自己洞察到的就是整個國家的真貌，這不可避免地意味著我們對國家的看法略微失真。可對于那些身處大學(xué)的人而言，這種失真可能會達(dá)到極點。學(xué)者們被束縛在校園內(nèi)，對更大范圍的美國社會的了解和容忍度會受限。

9換言之，就美國知識精英的現(xiàn)狀而言，最大的危險并非大多數(shù)大學(xué)教師擁有趨同的文化品味和類似的自由主義政治觀。這種情況可能會一直如此。最大的危險在于，校園的建構(gòu)讓他們易于忘記：有識之士往往不同意他們的觀點。

10The highly educated are far more liberal than average Americans. The divide isn’t just political: Whatever their socioeconomic backgrounds, students and professors have daily routines that are very different from those of lawyers,shopkeepers or manual laborers—and that shapes their worldviews.

11Life at a university with a dominant central campus can also narrow students’ views on the world. Letting the university take care of all of students’needs—food, housing, health care, policing, punishing misbehavior—can be infantilizing for young adults. Worse, it warps8warp（使）扭曲，使（行為等）不合情理。students’ political thinking to eat food that simply materializes in front of them and live in residence halls that others keep clean.

12Community outreach programs9community outreach program 社區(qū)外展項目，是一種讓學(xué)生走出校園、深入社區(qū)，向有需要的群體提供幫助和服務(wù)，從而獲得學(xué)習(xí)體驗和實際經(jīng)驗，并助力社區(qū)發(fā)展的教育實踐活動。can help broaden students’ outlook, but the better approach would be to configure the physical footprint10footprint（某物所占的）平面面積。of universities in a way that makes interactions with surrounding communities natural.

13By and large, urban state universities like Rutgers University’s Newark campus have done a much better job integrating with their environments than elite private universities. But colleges in smaller cities, towns and suburbs could also do more to integrate their physical presences more seamlessly with the surrounding environment. Both university and community have a lot to gain.

10高學(xué)歷者遠(yuǎn)比普通美國百姓更具自由主義傾向。差異不僅限于政治層面。無論大學(xué)師生的社會經(jīng)濟背景如何，他們的日常生活與律師、店主或體力勞動者截然不同——這便塑造了他們的世界觀。

11在一座擁有主導(dǎo)性中心校區(qū)的大學(xué)里生活還可能讓學(xué)生的世界觀變得狹隘。大學(xué)包攬了學(xué)生的全部需求，比如飲食、住宿、就醫(yī)、治安、懲戒等，這會讓年輕人變成“巨嬰”。更糟糕的是，吃的東西有人端到面前，住的宿舍有人負(fù)責(zé)打掃，這扭曲了學(xué)生的政治觀念。

12社區(qū)外展項目有助于開拓學(xué)生的視野，但最好能好好規(guī)劃大學(xué)的實體校區(qū)建設(shè)，使學(xué)生與周邊社區(qū)的互動自然而然。

13總體而言，與私立精英大學(xué)相比，羅格斯大學(xué)紐瓦克分校等市區(qū)州立大學(xué)與所處環(huán)境融合得更好。但是，地處較小城市、鎮(zhèn)區(qū)和郊區(qū)的大學(xué)也可以更有作為，真正讓校園與周邊環(huán)境無縫融合。這樣，大學(xué)和社區(qū)都將獲益良多。

14Housing fewer undergraduates on campus would be a good start to encourage more overlap between university and society.

15More interaction with surrounding communities would encourage more student advocacy for issues that have material impacts for society (housing rights, say) and less for those that don’t(such as whether certain public figures should be allowed to speak on campus).

16Universities and local governments should try to prevent students from dominating neighborhoods like Westwood, which is adjacent to U.C.L.A., or else they will come to function as extensions of the campus, defeating the point of these efforts to integrate the student population into surrounding communities.

17The federal government has massive influence over higher education through its funding powers and could provide additional funds for colleges that configure their physical footprints in a less centralized way.

18There’s a cultural change that needs to happen, too: Americans need to stop associating the central campus with prestige and looking down—often tacitly—on so-called commuter schools,where most don’t live in campus accommodations. Finally, there’s room for an upstart university to demonstrate that higher learning can be a success even when it’s not oriented around a campus.A university that does not fortify itself against its surrounding community can make much better use of its cultural resources.

14為推動大學(xué)與社會更多地交融，不妨從削減住校本科生人數(shù)做起。

15增進與周邊社區(qū)的互動會更多地鼓勵學(xué)生圍繞能對社會產(chǎn)生實質(zhì)影響的問題提出主張（比如住房權(quán)利），而非針對那些無關(guān)痛癢的問題（比如是否允許某些公眾人物來校園演講）。

16大學(xué)和地方政府應(yīng)做出努力，避免像韋斯特伍德（與加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校毗鄰）那樣讓學(xué)生成為社區(qū)主要人群，否則這些社區(qū)將成為校園的延伸，讓學(xué)生融入周邊社區(qū)的種種努力失去意義。

17聯(lián)邦政府憑借資金撥付權(quán)對高等教育施加重大影響，對于以不那么集中的方式規(guī)劃校園建設(shè)的大學(xué)，還可以提供額外資金。

18此外，文化層面也需要做出改變。美國人不能再把中心校區(qū)同聲望聯(lián)系起來，也不能再經(jīng)常是心照不宣地蔑視多數(shù)學(xué)生不住校的所謂走讀制學(xué)校。最后，新貴大學(xué)可以想辦法證明：即便不把關(guān)注點放在校園，高等教育也能夠取得成功。一所大學(xué)不在自身與周邊社區(qū)之間筑防，就能更好地利用其文化資源。

19Reacquainting the university with society is also a chance to redouble our attention to American urbanism. For urban universities to be able to blend into their surroundings, cities must be safe, affordable and pleasant. Colleges should work with local governments to address problems like homelessness,crime and cost of living. Wealthier universities could take a first step by using their full coffers11coffer（政府、機構(gòu)等的）金庫，資金。and extensive realestate holdings to build homeless shelters and affordable housing—then reap benefits from the improved health of their host cities.

20The university shouldn’t be made indistinguishable from other institutions. That would mean replacing its much-needed critical instinct with conformism and commercialization. But it badly needs more integration with society, and the best way to do that is to knock down some of the many barriers that separate it from the world outside.

19讓大學(xué)與社會重新相識相知，也能讓我們更加關(guān)注美國的城市生活。市區(qū)大學(xué)要想融入所處環(huán)境，城市就必須安全無憂、價格合理、舒適宜人。學(xué)院應(yīng)與地方政府合作，解決無家可歸、犯罪、生活成本等問題。經(jīng)濟相對寬裕的大學(xué)第一步要做的，是拿出其全部資金和大量不動產(chǎn)安置無家可歸者，建造保障性住房，改善所在城市的現(xiàn)狀并從中獲益。

20相比其他機構(gòu)，大學(xué)不應(yīng)失去自身特征。所謂失去自身特征，就是用循規(guī)蹈矩和商業(yè)化觀念取代大學(xué)急需的批判本能。但是，大學(xué)迫切需要與社會更加融合，而最好的實現(xiàn)方式就是破除一部分將大學(xué)與外界隔開的重重障礙。