#Roar2018 | 哥大校长李·布林格雨中致辞第264届毕业典礼，重申哥大核心课程价值
2017-2018学年是哥伦比亚大学里程碑式的一年。哥大生化与分子生物物理学及生命科学教授约阿希姆·弗兰克（Joachim Frank）获得了2017年诺贝尔化学奖，护理学院（School of Nursing）迎来了它的125岁生日，艺术学院的Lenfest艺术中心（Lenfest Center for the Arts）在哥大曼哈顿维尔新校区正式落成。
美国东部时间5月16日，哥伦比亚大学为16000名2018届毕业生举行了隆重的毕业典礼。他们来自100多个不同的国家，超过170人为退伍军人。他们当中最小的年仅16岁，最年长的今年69岁。16岁的Kai-Zhan Lee用了仅3年的时间获得了哥大工程学院计算机科学学士学位。最年长的路易斯·约瑟夫·奥古斯特医生（Louis-Joseph Auguste）于去年10月在梅尔曼公共卫生学院完成了他的硕士学位。
滑动查看下一张
在哥伦比亚大学第264届毕业典礼上，哥大校长李·布林格（Lee Bollinger）重申哥大核心课程（Core Curriculum）的重要性，并表示核心课程能帮助学生应对未来的种种挑战。
In his annual Commencement address on Wednesday, University President Lee Bollinger emphasized the need for the Core Curriculum and the habits of mind it imparts in helping graduating students navigate the challenges ahead of them.
布林格校长说：“你我所处的世界正危机四伏，而哥伦比亚大学的核心课程在此时更能发挥其独特作用，为学生建构一套价值观和思维逻辑体系，这对于任何社会、任何机构和个人的良性发展而言都至关重要。当核心价值逐渐式微，我们更应勇担重责；当原有的世界分崩离析，我们更应捍卫信仰。”
“I have to say I think the world that you and I are experiencing now is deeply troubled,” Bollinger said, “The Core is a set of values and intellectual habits of mind that are essential to the health and well-being of any society, any institution, and any individual. When they weaken, they must be shored up; when they are challenged, they must be defended.”
他深知，熟读并综合运用人文经典能够推动当代社会问题的解决，这也使得哥伦比亚大学数十年前对课本精心甄别的良苦用心不言自明。
He saw the importance in taking classic works and applying them to the modern world and contemporary issues, justifying the meticulous choice of texts made decades ago.
“如果你和我一样相信，核心课程之于哥大，就如同哥大之于社会，那么你从哥大学到的一切将会大有用处。它使我们能够克服人性的弱点，推动我们不断探索那些人类共同真理。将来无论你身处何处，所做何事，都会将核心课程的精神投射到周围的世界。
“And if you believe, as I do, that the Core is to the University what the University is to society, the greatest application of what you have learned here is still to come. It is about acting as a bulwark against our natural inclination to intolerance, and leading our enduring search for those critical shared truths. It is about projecting the spirit of the Core out into the world, whatever part of the world you make your own.”
滑动查看下一张
除了核心课程外，布林格校长还强调了哥大研究生院的重要作用，培养学生有能力和意愿，以宽容、善思的方式投入对世界的影响。他谈到在20世纪初，为了反击日益肤浅和咄咄逼人的新闻界，哥大所创建的新闻学院和普利策奖。
Alongside the Core Curriculum, Bollinger explained the role graduate schools play in the broader intellectual climate of the University. He noted their influence on creating students able and willing to engage in the world at large in a tolerant, analytical way. Bollinger spoke of the deliberate creation of the Journalism School and the Pulitzer Prize in the early 20th century as a pushback against an increasingly superficial and invasive press.
“法院、普利策奖、核心课程等的建立均是为了应对在全美蔓延的狂躁偏执的风气。”他将这种日渐增强的混沌感与当前美国的政治氛围相结合，呼吁学生运用他们在哥大之所学来应对当今问题。
“The Court, the Pulitzer Prizes, the Core Curriculum—all these were created as a response to the rabid intolerance that was spreading across the country,” he said. He related this feeling of imminent chaos to the current political climate, calling for students to use the classical texts and analytical tools they learned at Columbia to deal with the problems of today.
布林格校长笑称，美国国会应该通过第二十八修正案，规定全体美国公民都需学习核心课程，并以C视为及格。他希望毕业生们知道，哥大的教育已经使他们具备了改造世界的智慧。对2018届毕业生目前展现出来的、未来将持续释放的潜能，布林格校长表示欣慰。
Bollinger jokingly suggested that Congress pass a 28th Amendment mandating that all Americans take the Core Curriculum, with a C as the passing grade. He also attempted to instill in the graduating class a clear sense that their Columbia education had equipped them intellectually to mold and change the world for the better, expressing excitement at the potential the class of 2018 had shown and would continue to show.
“我们毫不怀疑在哥大求学期间你所付出的全部努力，我们也希望毕业后的你会用一生的时间将这样的精神奉行到底。”
“That you have been part of this effort we have no doubt, nor that you will continue to do your part to see us through to the end.”
点击阅读原文，查阅李·布林格校长的全文演讲。
Please click read more to the full transcript of President Bollinger's address.
Congratulations, Class of 2018!
编译：毓春
校对：由皙
责编：翩跹