来源：《科学美国人》2022年5月号
Early this year, Eric Lander had to resign his position as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He was forced to quit because of evidence that he had bullied staff members and created a hostile work environment. He now joins the ranks of other top scientists who have been sanctioned over behavior ranging from disrespect and bullying to sexual harassment.
今年年初，埃里克·兰德不得不辞去白宫科技政策办公室主任的职务。他被迫辞职，因为有证据表明，他欺凌员工，创造了一个充满敌意的工作环境。他现在加入了因不尊重、欺凌、性骚扰等行为而受到制裁的顶级科学家的行列。
The most publicized cases have involved Title IX violations. This is the federal civil rights statute that bars sexual harassment in educational programs that receive federal funds. In 2019 geologist David Marchant was fired from Boston University after an investigation concluded that he had repeatedly made sexual comments against a graduate student.
这其中最广为人知的案件都涉及违反《教育法修正案第九条》。这是一项联邦民权法令，禁止在接受联邦资金的教育项目中实施性骚扰。2019年，波士顿大学的一项调查得出结论，地质学家大卫·马羌特多次对一名研究生发表性评论，随后他被开除。
But not all cases fall under Title IX. As Lander’s case shows, there are many forms of bad behavior in science that don’t rise to the level of illegality, and perhaps for that reason colleagues often look the other way.
但并非所有案件都适用《教育法修正案第九条》。正如兰德的案例所表明的那样，在科学领域有许多形式的不良行为没有上升到违法的程度，也许正是因为这个原因，同事们经常装作没看见。
Why? The reasons are complex and likely include some outright sexism and a whole lot of implicit bias. But there’s another problem in scientific culture that is rarely addressed: the acceptance of personal misconduct in light of high professional accomplishment.
为什么？原因很复杂，可能包括一些公然的性别歧视和大量的隐性偏见。但是，科学文化中还有一个很少被提及的问题：在专业成就很高的情况下，对个人不端行为的接受。
Many academics seem to believe that brilliant people should be excused a degree of bad behavior. Arthur T. Hadley, president of Yale University from 1899 to 1921, argued intelligence should be “a determining factor” in deciding on allowable personal conduct. The greater your brainpower, the greater your right to do as you please.
许多学者似乎认为，才华横溢的人一定程度的不良行为应该被原谅。在1899年至1921年担任耶鲁大学校长的阿瑟·哈德利认为，在决定允许的个人行为时，智力应该是一个“决定性因素”。你的脑力越强，随心所欲的权利就越大。
Hadley is mostly forgotten, but his attitude persists. It helps to explain why academics often rally around bullies with arguments about how accomplished they are as geologists, biologists, anthropologists or even literary theorists. This is a logical error: it conflates intellectual greatness with human decency, which are, clearly, two different things. It also may help explain a pattern common in these cases: that some people close to the culprit insist they never witnessed anything like the alleged behavior. In the Marchant case, a fellow geologist who had worked with him for 11 years insisted the accusations were “inconsistent” with his experiences. But Marchant may have behaved well around those he respected, while acting badly toward people of lesser professional stature.
哈德利几乎被遗忘了，但他的态度依然存在。这有助于解释为什么学者们经常集体声援恃强凌弱者，理由是霸凌者作为地质学家、生物学家、人类学家甚至文学理论家多么有成就。这是一个逻辑错误：它把智慧的伟大与人类的得体混为一谈，这显然是两件不同的事情。这也可能有助于解释这些案件中常见的一个模式：一些与始作俑者关系密切的人坚称，他们从未目睹过任何类似被指控的行为。在马羌特案中，一位与他共事11年的地质学家坚称，这些指控与他的经历“不相符”。但马羌特可能在他尊敬的人面前表现得很好，而在职业地位较低的人面前表现得很糟糕。
Call it the Raskolnikov effect after the law student in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, who justified theft and murder because he believed the crimes would let him overcome his poverty and fulfill his exceptional intellectual potential. Bullying is not murder, but the mindset that motivated Raskolnikov often undergirds other forms of antisocial behavior, and surveys show this kind of personal abuse in science is widespread.
我们称这种现象为拉斯柯尔尼科夫效应，取自费多尔·陀思妥耶夫斯基小说《罪与罚》中的法学学生拉斯柯尔尼科夫的说法，他为盗窃和谋杀辩护，因为他相信这些罪行会让他摆脱贫困，发挥他非凡的智力潜能。欺凌并不是谋杀，但激励拉斯柯尔尼科夫的思维模式往往会助长其他形式的反社会行为。调查显示，这种人身攻击在科学领域很普遍。
It is an important step forward when the research community holds its most prominent members accountable for their actions. It’s not unfair, inappropriate or an overreaction. It’s about time.
当研究界要求其最杰出的成员为自己的行为负责时，这是向前迈出的重要一步。这并不是不公平、不恰当或反应过度。是时候这样做了。