来源：《基督科学箴言报》
原文刊登日期：2023年6月29日
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to end race as a factor in college admissions will now launch a vigorous and perhaps difficult search in higher education for legal and creative ways to deservedly educate more students from underrepresented racial groups. Yet it would be helpful to start that search by considering what the court ruling does not do.
美国最高法院今天作出决定，终止种族作为大学录取的一个因素，这将在高等教育领域开启一场积极的、或许是艰难的探索，寻找合法的、有创意的方式，让更多来自未被充分代表的种族群体的学生得到应有的教育。然而，通过考虑最高法院裁决没有否定什么来开始探索将是有帮助的。
It does not dispute as “commendable goals” the desire by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina – the two institutions at the center of the case – to cultivate, through diversity, a higher class of “engaged and productive citizens and leaders.” It also acknowledged the importance of “appreciation, respect, and empathy, cross-racial understanding, and breaking down stereotypes.”
最高法院的裁决并不否认哈佛大学和北卡罗来纳大学——这两个处于案件中心的机构——通过多元化培养出更高层次的“敬业、有成效的公民和领导者”的愿望是“值得称赞的目标”。判决还承认了“欣赏、尊重、同理心、跨种族理解和打破刻板印象”的重要性。
Rather, the court has determined that doing so on the basis of any form of racial discrimination, regardless of the desired social effect, violates the constitutional guarantee of “equal protection under the law” in the 14th Amendment. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority decision, “the Court has permitted race-based college admissions only within the confines of narrow restrictions: such admissions programs must comply with strict scrutiny, may never use race as a stereotype or negative, and must – at some point – end.” In reaching that decision, the majority sought to compel universities to find other means to work toward a more just and equal society.
相反，最高法院认定，基于任何形式的种族歧视而达到这些目的，无论其预期的社会效果如何，都违反了第14修正案中“依法平等保护”的宪法保障。正如首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨在多数派裁决中所写的那样，“最高法院只在有限的限制范围内允许基于种族的大学招生：此类招生项目必须遵守严格的审查，不得将种族作为刻板印象或负面因素，而且必须在某个时候结束。”在做出这一决定时，最高法院多数派试图迫使大学寻找其他途径，朝着一个更加公正和平等的社会努力。
Today’s decision comes at a time when concerns about social justice are prompting deeper discussions about diversity, equality, and reparations for past racial harm in offices, school boards, and legislatures across the country. Removing race as a factor in the composition of college classes, Chief Justice Roberts wrote, in no way prevents a consideration of race as a formative factor in individual experience.
今天的判决是在对社会正义的担忧促使全美各地的办公室、学校董事会和立法机构就多元化、平等以及对过去种族伤害的弥补进行更深入的讨论之际做出的。首席大法官罗伯茨写道，消除种族作为大学班级构成中的一个因素，绝不妨碍将种族作为个人经历的一个形成因素加以考虑。
“Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the standard of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
首席大法官罗伯茨写道：“没有任何规定禁止大学考虑申请人关于种族如何影响申请人生活的讨论，只要该讨论与申请人能够为大学做出贡献的性格品质或独特能力具体相关。”“长期以来，许多大学都错误地认为，判定一个人身份的标准不是战胜挑战、掌握技能或吸取教训，而是他们的肤色。这个国家的宪法历史不允许这种选择。”
In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor acknowledged that Harvard and UNC have “reckoned with their past and its lingering effects.” She added, “Acknowledging the reality that race has always mattered and continues to matter, these universities have established institutional goals of diversity and inclusion.” Her main argument finds no objection from the majority: “Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality.”
大法官索尼娅·索托马约尔在反对意见中承认，哈佛大学和北卡罗来纳大学已经“正视了它们的过去及其挥之不去的影响”。她补充说，“这些大学承认种族一直很重要，而且将继续很重要，因此确立了多元化和包容性的制度目标。”她的主要论点没有遭到多数派的反对：“平等需要承认不平等。”
The nation’s ongoing debate over race was reflected in today’s sharp and divided ruling. Yet it also places the burden of finding solutions back on both universities and citizens. The “commendable goals” of integrated campuses are not dismissed. Schools just need new and different means to achieve them.
这个国家正在进行的关于种族的辩论反映在今天尖锐而分歧的裁决中。然而，这也将寻找解决方案的重担推回到了大学和公民身上。取消种族隔离的校园的“值得称赞的目标”并没有被忽视。学校只是需要新的和不同的手段来实现这些目标。