We're all...

花了半天判完小本们的期中考试卷子，无语中，只有用一幅漫画才能表达我现在的心情...

奥尔默特在芝大

以色列前总理奥尔默特（Ehud Olmert）上周四应芝大Harris School of Public Policy Studies的邀请来到芝大做演讲，结果支持巴勒斯坦的学生组织举行了声势浩大的街头抗议，口号声在一个block以外都能听得见。今日又发现了这个youtube视频，原来会场里的情形更加混乱...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHxwIiqiH4

站在街头进行抗议，亦或提供声援，都是每个人应有的自由。大家都有渠道发出自己的声音，对于一个健康的社会来说还是必须的。但是无论如何，这样无礼地打断演讲，扰乱会场的秩序，对演讲者都是极大的不尊重。看来这件事的确对芝大的声誉产生了不小的负面影响，以至于今天校长Robert Zimmer亲自出面，向全校师生广发email，重申芝大核心价值，呼吁共建和谐的世界一流大学：

At the height of attacks on the University of Chicago in the 1930s as a “hot bed of radicalism” by politicians and the national press, President Robert Maynard Hutchins responded by proclaiming our core values, asserting that “… free inquiry is indispensable to the good life, that universities exist for the sake of such inquiry, that without it they cease to be universities, and that such inquiry and hence universities are more necessary now than ever.”

This culture of inquiry and informed argument is a cherished hallmark of the University of Chicago. It flourishes in an environment where what matters is what you say, not who you are. We believe that in the open clash of ideas, progress is made and understanding emerges. But like any cultural conviction, an environment of informed argument and critical inquiry must be nurtured. It creates for the faculty, students, and staff of the University of Chicago the fundamental right and responsibility to foster and protect rational discourse in an environment marked both by the rigorous challenge of ideas and by tolerance for the expression of multiple viewpoints.

Speakers invited by faculty and students should have every expectation to be treated in accord with the highest ideals of the University. There is also a reciprocal obligation to hear from those who wish to express dissent, but not in a manner that prevents the speech of those with whom they disagree. At institutions without our strong tradition of free inquiry, speakers have been prevented from freely presenting their ideas. We had such an event occur on our campus last week. It is in this context and given the particular history of our institution that the repeated disruption by audience members of the views presented by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking at the invitation of the Harris School, is disturbing. Any stifling of debate runs counter to the primary values of the University of Chicago and to our long-standing position as an exemplar of academic freedom. It is a rupture of the sort that is rare on our campus because of our shared views of the importance of inquiry, discourse, and informed argument.

In the tradition of President Hutchins, his predecessors and successors, we remain committed to fostering an arena for the free expression of ideas because it is the essence of our existence as a great University, and we as a community will continue to defend the rights to free expression on our campus.

这封email里一再颠来倒去讲到的芝大的核心价值观，也就是free inquiry, argument, and expression of ideas，确实应该是一切大学存在的根本所在。不过即使在美国这样有充分自由的环境中，即使在芝大这样一贯有重视自由传统的学府里，对言论自由的侵犯也无法避免地发生了。自由存在的土壤是脆弱的，是建立在你、我，我们每一个人实实在在的行动上的。只要有一些人不能容忍、不能尊重与自己不同的意见，其他一些人的自由就会不可避免地受到伤害。这就是为什么作为一个自由主义者的胡适会说，容忍比自由更重要。