纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国留学生禁令佛州新法律引发困惑与争议

The panic among faculty at the University of Florida began this month once word started to spread: Do not make offers yet to graduate students from seven “countries of concern.”

本月，恐慌开始在佛罗里达大学教职员工中蔓延，校园里传播着关于暂时不要向七个“受关注国家”的研究生发出录取通知的消息。

Among the seven was China, the largest source of international students at Florida, a major research university, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

在这七个国家中，中国是佛罗里达大学最大的留学生来源国，该校是一所重要研究型大学，尤其是在科学、技术、工程和数学领域。

The guidance stemmed from a new law that Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, and state lawmakers said was designed to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from having influence at the state’s public institutions.

该指导原则源于佛罗里达州共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯和州议员们所说的一项新法律，该法律旨在防止中国共产党对该州的公共机构施加影响。

It remains unclear whether the law outright prohibits the University of Florida and other schools from hiring Chinese students. But the varying instructions given to professors in recent days have sowed uncertainty at the school, Florida’s flagship campus, just as admission committees are beginning to review graduate student applications for next year.

目前尚不清楚该法律是否完全禁止佛罗里达大学和其他学校聘用中国学生。然而，最近几天来，就在招生委员会开始明年的研究生申请审查之际，教授们得到的不同指示在这所佛罗里达州的旗舰大学内播下了不确定性的种子。

The measure, passed this spring, restricts public universities and colleges from “accepting grants from or participating in partnerships or agreements” with individuals or schools from seven countries: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria.

今年春季通过的这项措施限制公立大学和学院从七个国家那里“接受个人或学校的资助，或参与合作或协议”。这七个国家是中国、俄罗斯、伊朗、朝鲜、古巴、委内瑞拉和叙利亚。

Researchers are concerned that the law has already had the effect of scaring off talented Chinese students, who are also considering graduate schools and research opportunities in other states and countries. The law and its ramifications come as a growing number of Republican-led states have placed new prohibitions on Chinese nationals and entities amid growing U.S.-China tensions.

随着中美关系日益紧张，越来越多共和党领导的州对中国公民和实体实施了新的禁令，该法律及其影响也随之而来。研究人员担心，它已经吓跑了有才华的中国学生，这些学生同时也在考虑前往其他州、其他国家读研究生和做研究。

“These students are concerned that they will be discriminated against if they come to Florida,” said Qianqian Song, an assistant professor of bioinformatics at the University of Florida.

“这些学生担心，来佛罗里达会受歧视，”佛罗里达大学生物信息学助理教授宋倩倩（音）说。

In recent days, she said, she has been inundated with questions from applicants after articles about the Florida law were posted to Chinese social media and major news websites. She said losing top recruits would be a huge blow to her research, which uses artificial intelligence algorithms to better understand diseases like cancer.

她说，最近几天，有关佛罗里达州法律的文章被发布到中国的社交媒体和主要新闻网站后，她收到了申请者提出的大量问题。她说，她的研究使用人工智能算法来更好地了解癌症等疾病，失去顶尖人才将对她的研究造成巨大打击。

Last week, professors at the University of Florida sent a petition to leadership — including Ben Sasse, the university’s president, who previously served in the Senate as a Republican from Nebraska — calling for clearer guidelines on the hiring of international researchers.

上周，佛罗里达大学的教授们向该校领导层递交了一份请愿书，呼吁在聘用国际研究人员方面制定更明确的指导方针。该校校长本·萨斯曾作为内布拉斯加州的共和党人在参议院任职。

At stake, the petition said, was nothing less than the school’s “standing as a top university.” By Thursday, more than 300 faculty members had signed it.

请愿书称，这关系到该校“作为顶尖大学的地位”。截至周四，已有300多名教职员工在请愿书上签名。

The original Florida bill was part of a package passed by the State Legislature that was aimed at combating the C.C.P.’s influence. According to the law, students can be hired on a case-by-case basis with approval from the Board of Governors that oversees state universities, but it remains unclear how such a process would work.

佛罗里达州最初的法案是州立法机构通过的旨在打击中共影响力的一揽子法案的一部分。根据法律规定，经负责监督州立大学的理事会批准后，可以根据具体情况聘用学生，但目前尚不清楚该程序将如何运作。

In a statement, a university spokesman said that the law had been passed unanimously by the Florida legislature and did not impact enrollment or scholarships.

佛罗里达大学发言人在声明中表示，该法律已获得佛罗里达州立法机构的一致通过，不会影响该校的招生或奖学金。

“The university’s obligation is to comply with the restriction, and the administration has communicated the law clearly to deans and center directors,” said Steve Orlando, associate vice president for communications at the University of Florida. He said that the school was still working on policies and procedures to conform to the new law.

“学校的义务是遵守这一限制，行政部门已经向各学院院长和中心主任明确传达了这项法律，”佛罗里达大学负责媒体公关事务的助理副校长史蒂夫·奥兰多说。他表示，学校仍在制定符合新法律的政策和程序。

The law does not prohibit the University of Florida from admitting students from the seven countries, but doctoral students typically receive an accompanying offer of employment, usually in the form of a research or teaching assistant position.

法律没有禁止佛罗里达大学招收来自这七个国家的学生，但博士生通常会收到一份附带的工作邀请，通常是研究或教学助理的职位。

The faculty petition stated that the university enrolls more than 1,000 students from the seven countries covered by the law each fall. In 2020, 1,100 students — 40 percent of the University of Florida’s total graduate student body — came from China, while 83 students were from Iran.

教职员工的请愿书称，该大学每年秋季招收1000多名来自该法律所涵盖的七个国家的学生。2020年，1100名学生（占佛罗里达大学研究生总数的40%）来自中国，83名学生来自伊朗。

As they await further guidance, some University of Florida academic departments are weighing whether to interview candidates from the seven countries. At least one committee is trying to figure out how to rescind verbal offers that were already extended, said Meera Sitharam, a professor of computer science and president of the university’s faculty union.

在等待进一步指导的同时，佛罗里达大学的一些学术部门正在考虑是否要对这七个国家的候选人进行面试。计算机科学教授、该校教师工会主席米拉·西塔拉姆说，至少有一个委员会正在试图弄清如何取消已经发出的口头录取通知。

Across the nation, two dozen states have proposed or enacted legislation that would restrict Chinese purchases of land, buildings and houses, citing concerns about national security threats. Tensions have been inflamed this year by the Chinese spy balloon that floated across the United States and by anti-China rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates.

在全国范围内，已有24个州提出或颁布了限制中国人购买土地、建筑和房屋的立法，理由是担心国家安全受到威胁。今年，中国间谍气球飘过美国上空，以及共和党总统候选人的反华言论加剧了紧张局势。

In May, at the same time that Mr. DeSantis signed the research restriction, he approved one of the strictest versions of a land ownership ban, effectively prohibiting Chinese nationals from buying property within 10 miles of any military base or critical infrastructure, such as airports. Both laws took effect in July.

今年5月，德桑蒂斯在签署这项研究限制令的同时还批准了最严格的土地所有权禁令之一，有效禁止了中国公民购买任何军事基地或机场等关键基础设施10英里（约合16公里）范围内的房产。两项法律都于7月生效。

“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. DeSantis said in a statement when he signed the laws, adding, “We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China.”

“佛罗里达州正在采取行动，反对美国最大的地缘政治威胁——中国共产党，”德桑蒂斯在签署这些法律时发表声明说。“我们正在履行我们打击共产主义中国的承诺。”

In the Republican-led House, there has been some talk of reinstating the “China Initiative,” a Department of Justice program that was designed to target Chinese espionage by focusing on researchers working in the United States. The effort was scrapped last year amid criticism that it had chilled scientific research and contributed to racial profiling.

在共和党领导的众议院，有人提出恢复“中国计划”，这是司法部的一个项目，通过重点关注在美国工作的研究人员，打击中国的间谍活动。这项工作在去年被取消，因为有人批评它阻碍科学研究，助长种族定性。

Civil rights advocates have said that such policies take a broad-brush approach to national security threats and lead to more discrimination against Chinese individuals and Asian Americans more broadly. Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, said the Florida law was another example of the “fear-mongering and scapegoating of Chinese American immigrants and students in the country.”

民权倡导者表示，此类政策对国家安全威胁采取一刀切的做法，导致针对华裔和亚裔美国人的更多歧视。亚裔美国学者论坛执行主任吉塞拉·佩雷斯·草川（音）表示，佛罗里达州的这项法律是“在美国的华裔移民和学生当中散布恐惧和寻找替罪羊”的又一个例子。

Richard Woodard, a professor of physics at the University of Florida, said he shared the concerns about the potential security risks outlined by Mr. DeSantis and other top state officials, and that he supported a more rigorous vetting of foreign researchers. But Mr. Woodard said that he did not want a blanket ban on students and scholars from China.

佛罗里达大学物理学教授理查德·伍达德表示，对于德桑蒂斯和其他州高级官员所述的潜在安全风险，他也同样感到担忧，他支持对外国研究人员进行更严格的审查。但伍达德表示，他不希望全面禁止来自中国的学生和学者。

“Many of our best faculty are from China,” Mr. Woodard said, adding that “the Chinese are our best graduate students.”

“我们很多最好的教员都来自中国，”伍达德说，“中国学生是我们最好的研究生。”

“It won’t stop our research if there are no more of them,” he added, “but it will hurt us.”

“如果没有更多来自中国的师生，我们的研究也不会停止，但这会伤害到我们，”他还说。

Chenglong Li, a chaired professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida, said that he was concerned that restricting international students from countries like China and Iran would cut off a pipeline of talent that has been crucial to America’s global scientific dominance.

佛罗里达大学药物化学讲座教授李成龙（音）表示，他担心，限制来自中国和伊朗等国家的留学生会切断人才输送渠道，而这对美国在全球科学界的主导地位至关重要。

Some might hold up Mr. Li’s experience as an example of that pipeline. He came to the United States more than 30 years ago after the Chinese government’s bloody crackdown on student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

李成龙本人的经历或许可以作为该渠道的例证。30多年前，在1989年中国政府血腥镇压天安门广场的学生示威者之后，他来到了美国。

Mr. Li’s research in the United States has since contributed to the development of targeted cancer treatments that could produce fewer side effects than those of earlier approaches.

自那以后，李成龙在美国的研究为靶向癌症治疗的发展做出了贡献，这种治疗方法产生的副作用比以前的方法要少。

“If you don’t want to deal with any Chinese government institutions or business institutions, that’s fine with me, I don’t care,” he said. “But most Chinese students who come here just want to stay in this country to pursue the American dream. They have nothing to do with the government.”

“如果你们不想和任何中国政府机构或商业机构打交道，我无所谓，我不在乎，”他说。“但大多数来到这里的中国学生只是想留在这个国家追求美国梦。他们和政府无关。”