近期，中美贸易纷争的战火已经蔓延到社会各界。许多中美学术交流和旅美学者都遭到了不公的歧视和打压。在配合特朗普的对华政策，停止与华为、中兴合作后，当地时间6月25日，麻省理工学院（MIT）校长雷欧·拉斐尔·莱夫（L. Rafael Reif）公开宣称，本校华裔成员因中美之间的紧张关系而遭受痛苦。
To the members of the MIT community,
MIT has flourished, like the United States itself, because it has been a magnet for the world’s finest talent, a global laboratory where people from every culture and background inspire each other and invent the future, together.
Today, I feel compelled to share my dismay about some circumstances painfully relevant to our fellow MIT community members of Chinese descent. And I believe that because we treasure them as friends and colleagues, their situation and its larger national context should concern us all.
The situation
As the US and China have struggled with rising tensions, the US government has raised serious concerns about incidents of alleged academic espionage conducted by individuals through what is widely understood as a systematic effort of the Chinese government to acquire high-tech IP.
As head of an institute that includes MIT Lincoln Laboratory, I could not take national security more seriously. I am well aware of the risks of academic espionage, and MIT has established prudent policies to protect against such breaches.
But in managing these risks, we must take great care not to create a toxic atmosphere of unfounded suspicion and fear. Looking at cases across the nation, small numbers of researchers of Chinese background may indeed have acted in bad faith, but they are the exception and very far from the rule. Yet faculty members, post-docs, research staff and students tell me that, in their dealings with government agencies, they now feel unfairly scrutinized, stigmatized and on edge – because of their Chinese ethnicity alone.
Nothing could be further from – or more corrosive to – our community’s collaborative strength and open-hearted ideals. To hear such reports from Chinese and Chinese-American colleagues is heartbreaking. As scholars, teachers, mentors, inventors and entrepreneurs, they have been not only exemplary members of our community but exceptional contributors to American society. I am deeply troubled that they feel themselves repaid with generalized mistrust and disrespect.
The signal to the world
For those of us who know firsthand the immense value of MIT’s global community and of the free flow of scientific ideas, it is important to understand the distress of these colleagues as part of an increasingly loud signal the US is sending to the world.
Protracted visa delays. Harsh rhetoric against most immigrants and a range of other groups, because of religion, race, ethnicity or national origin. Together, such actions and policies have turned the volume all the way up on the message that the US is closing the door – that we no longer seek to be a magnet for the world’s most driven and creative individuals. I believe this message is not consistent with how America has succeeded. I am certain it is not how the Institute has succeeded. And we should expect it to have serious long-term costs for the nation and for MIT.
For the record, let me say with warmth and enthusiasm to every member of MIT’s intensely global community: We are glad, proud and fortunate to have you with us! To our alumni around the world: We remain one community, united by our shared values and ideals! And to all the rising talent out there: If you are passionate about making a better world, and if you dream of joining our community, we welcome your creativity, we welcome your unstoppable energy and aspiration – and we hope you can find a way to join us.
* * *
In May, the world lost a brilliant creative force: architect I.M. Pei, MIT Class of 1940. Raised in Shanghai and Hong Kong, he came to the United States at 17 to seek an education. He left a legacy of iconic buildings from Boston to Paris and China to Washington, DC, as well on our own campus. By his own account, he consciously stayed alive to his Chinese roots all his life. Yet, when he died at the age of 102, the Boston Globe described him as “the most prominent American architect of his generation.”
Thanks to the inspired American system that also made room for me as an immigrant, all of those facts can be true at the same time.
As I have discovered through 40 years in academia, the hidden strength of a university is that every fall, it is refreshed by a new tide of students. I am equally convinced that part of the genius of America is that it is continually refreshed by immigration – by the passionate energy, audacity, ingenuity and drive of people hungry for a better life.
There is certainly room for a wide range of serious positions on the actions necessary to ensure our national security and to manage and improve our nation’s immigration system. But above the noise of the current moment, the signal I believe we should be sending, loud and clear, is that the story of American immigration is essential to understanding how the US became, and remains, optimistic, open-minded, innovative and prosperous – a story of never-ending renewal.
In a nation like ours, immigration is a kind of oxygen, each fresh wave reenergizing the body as a whole. As a society, when we offer immigrants the gift of opportunity, we receive in return vital fuel for our shared future. I trust that this wisdom will always guide us in the life and work of MIT. And I hope it can continue to guide our nation.
Sincerely,
L. Rafael Reif
致麻省理工学院的社区成员：
麻省理工学院像美国一样蓬勃发展，因为它像磁铁一样吸引了世界上最优秀的人才，同时作为一个全球化的实验室，来自不同文化和背景的人们互相激励，共同创造未来。
今天，我不得不为关于麻省理工学院的华裔社区成员所遭受的痛苦境况而感到沮丧。我相信，因为我们将他们视为朋友和同事，所以他们的处境以及更大的国家背景，也应该关系到我们所有人。
情况
由于美中两国之间的关系愈发紧张，美国政府对个人学术间谍，进而普遍认为中国通过收购高科技知识产权进行系统性的学术间谍事件，而表示严重关切。
作为包括麻省理工学院林肯实验室在内的研究所的所长，我已经不能更认真地对待国家安全了。我很清楚学术间谍活动的风险，而麻省理工学院也已经制定了谨慎的政策来防范此类违规行为。
但在管理这些风险时，我们必须非常小心，不要制造一种毫无根据的怀疑和恐惧的有毒气氛。从全国各地的案例来看，尽管少数具有中国背景的研究人员可能确实是出于恶意行事，但他们是例外，而且远远偏离了规则。然而，教师，博士后，研究人员和学生却告诉我，在他们与政府机构打交道时，他们现在感觉到他们受到不公正的审查，同时感到耻辱和紧张- 仅仅只是因为他们的中国背景。
没有比这个更加偏离、甚至是在腐蚀我们社区的协作力量和开放的理想的了，华人和华裔同事的这些报道令人心碎。作为学者，教师，导师，发明家和企业家，他们不仅是我们社区的典范成员，也是美国社会的杰出贡献者，但是令我深感困扰的是他们感到自己得到的是回报却是普遍的不信任和不尊重。
向世界发出的信号
对于我们这些直接了解麻省理工学院作为全球社区以及科学思想自由流动的巨大价值的人来说，了解这些同事的痛苦是美国向世界传达的越来越响亮的口号的一部分是非常重要的。
这些行为包括长期签证延误、由于宗教，种族，民族或血统而对大多数移民和其他一系列群体的严厉言论。总而言之，这些行动和政策已经把美国要关闭大门的声音调到了最高。我们不再寻求吸引世界上最具驱动力和创造力的个人。我相信这个信息与美国的成功方式并不一致。我也确信研究院所的成功并非源于此。我们同时还应该考虑它为国家和麻省理工学院带来的严重的长期成本。
在此我要郑重声明，
对于麻省理工学院全球社区的每一位成员，我想充满善意与热情的对你们说：我们很高兴，自豪和幸运地拥有你们！
对于我们全世界的校友：我们仍然是团结在共同的价值观和理想之下的社区！
对于所有崭露头角的人才：如果你热衷于创造一个更美好的世界，如果你梦想加入我们的社区，我们欢迎你的创造力，我们欢迎你不可阻挡的能量和愿望。我们也希望你能找到一条加入我们的路！
* * *
5月，世界失去了一位杰出的创作巨匠：麻省理工学院1940级毕业生建筑师贝聿铭。他在上海和香港长大，17岁时来到美国寻求教育。他留下的标志性的建筑遗产分布在从波士顿到巴黎、从中国的到华盛顿特区的各个地方，以及我们自己的校园。按照他自己的说法，他一生都和自己的中国根基保持着密不可分的联系。然而，当他在102岁时去世时，波士顿环球报将他形容为“他那一代最杰出的美国建筑师。”
幸亏美国鼓舞人心的制度也为作为移民的我创造了空间，所以所有这些事实可以同时都是真实的。
正如我在我四十年的学术生涯中发现的那样，大学隐藏的力量是每一个秋天它都会被新的一批的学生所更新。我同样相信，美国精神的一部分也在被移民通过他们充满激情的能量、大胆、聪明才智和渴望更美好生活的动力而不断更新。
在确保我们的国家安全以及管理和改善我们国家的移民系统所必需的行动方面，肯定有很多重要方面需要考虑。但在当前时刻的噪音之中，我相信我们应该发出响亮而清晰的信号，美国移民的故事对于理解美国如何成为并保持乐观、开放、创新和繁荣至关重要，而这个故事也是永无止境不断更新的。
在像我们这样的国家，移民如同氧气，而每次吸入新鲜氧气都会使整个身体重新获得能量。作为一个社会，当我们赠予移民以机会，我们都会得到对于我们共有的未来至关重要的燃料。我相信这种智慧将永远在麻省理工学院的生活和工作中引导我们。我也希望它能够继续指导我们的国家。
真诚的，
雷欧·拉斐尔·莱夫
作为麻省理工学院第17任校长，莱芙出生于委内瑞拉，是一位知名电气工程师。
1973年，莱芙毕业于委内瑞拉卡拉沃沃大学，1979年在美国斯坦福大学获得了电气工程博士学位。他自1980年开始担任麻省理工学院教师，2005年出任教务长。任职期间，他主持开发了网络教学项目，为麻省理工学院和哈佛大学提供了免费网络课程。
在担任麻省理工学院第17任校长期间，莱芙多次来华参加学术活动。
去年11月13日，他在北京举办的麻省理工学院中国峰会上表示，中国目前的科技进展令人印象深刻，包括在量子计算、5G 网络、高速铁路、移动支付等领域。
“在学术领域，近来中国人工智能研究论文的发表数量跃居世界第一。在量子计算、5G网络和高铁领域，中国开发的技术世界一流。在移动支付、人脸和语音识别领域，中国企业则是领头羊。”
莱芙强调，中国是诸多科技领域的重要参与者，并称赞中国拥有庞大的一流科技人才队伍。
