Just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nemat Shafik, president of Columbia University, stepped out of an office building on Capitol Hill and into an idling black SUV.

周三下午2点刚过，哥伦比亚大学校长内玛特·沙菲克走出国会山一座办公楼，上了一辆正空转等待着的黑色SUV。

She had just endured an intense grilling by a congressional committee investigating antisemitism on elite college campuses. Now a fresh challenge was rapidly building back on her own turf, where pro-Palestinian student demonstrators had staked out an encampment dominating Columbia’s lawn.

她刚刚受到一个调查精英高校反犹问题的国会委员会的严厉拷问。此时此刻，在她自己的地盘上，一个新的挑战正在迅速形成，支持巴勒斯坦的抗议学生已经在哥大校园的草坪上安营扎寨。

For a university trying to reassure Congress that it was getting its campus under control, the timing could scarcely have been worse. With a narrow window to act, Shafik directed her car to a law firm near the White House, where she set up a makeshift command center.

作为一间正在努力向国会保证可以控制校园局势的大学，这个时间点再糟糕不过了。沙菲克需要在短时间里迅速行动，她让司机前往白宫附近一家律师事务所，在那里设立了一个临时指挥中心。

The secretive deliberations that followed over 24 frantic hours have sent Columbia into a crisis over free speech and safety unlike any the campus has seen since 1968. The events also set off a chain reaction rattling campuses across the country, just as one of the most trying academic years in memory neared its end.

在接下来那疯狂的24小时里，种种不为外人知的商议考量令哥大陷入了一场自1968年以来大学校园鲜见的言论自由和安全危机。在这个格外煎熬的学年即将结束之际，这些事件还在全美各高校触发了连锁反应。

In theory, Shafik had a range of options to deal with the protests and protect Jewish students; in the moment, though, she saw little choice, according to three people who described the private discussions. Her testimony had pointed toward coming down hard on the protesters.

要应对抗议，保护犹太学生，沙菲克理论上有许多方案可选。然而在当时，据三位了解私下商谈的人士说，她觉得自己没什么选择。她的证词表明她要下重手处置抗议者。

Despite brief attempts to negotiate with them and objections from key leaders on campus, Shafik ordered what she later conceded was an “extraordinary step.” She suspended the students and ordered New York City police in riot gear to arrest more than 100 activists who refused to leave Thursday afternoon.

尽管一度试图和学生谈判，且校内的主要领导者都表示反对，沙菲克还是下达了命令，她后来承认这个决定是“不同寻常的举措”。她对学生采取停学处理，并命令身穿防暴装备的纽约市警察逮捕了超过100名拒绝在周四下午离开的活动人士。

内玛特·沙菲克面临如何处理抗议学生的艰难选择，此前她向国会议员承诺会采取积极行动。

But instead of quelling the protests, Shafik’s decision appeared to backfire. By this week, she was besieged on all sides.

然而沙菲克的决定不但没能平息抗议，似乎还产生了适得其反的效果。到了这一周，她已经四面楚歌。

Students protesters were unbowed, and soon the encampment had regrown to be even larger than before. Shafik’s own faculty threatened to revolt over an “unprecedented assault on student rights.” A least one major Jewish donor cut off support. And while the White House voiced deep concern, the very Republican lawmakers she had set out to appeal to called for her resignation.

抗议学生不为所动，营地很快发展了到前所未有的规模。沙菲克的教员们威胁要起事，认为这是“对学生权利的一场空前的攻击”。至少有一名犹太大金主切断了资金支持。白宫表达了严正关切，然而那些她本想要努力迎合的共和党议员，却在呼吁她辞职。

100多名学生在哥伦比亚大学校园内搭帐篷并拒绝离开，随后被捕。

Columbia declined a request to interview Shafik.

哥大拒绝了采访沙菲克的请求。

But in a statement, a university spokesperson said the president had remained in “constant touch” while she was in Washington, including on calls that lasted until midnight. The spokesperson, Samantha Slater, also said Shafik was now focused on “de-escalating the rancor” on campus.

不过一位校方发言人发表声明说，校长身在华盛顿期间保持着“不间断的联系”，包括持续到午夜的电话。这位发言人萨曼莎·斯雷特还说，沙菲克现在把注意力放在“化解敌意”上。

Now, with only days of classes left in the spring semester, neither side appears to have a clear endgame. University leaders are counting the days until summer, hoping to protect May’s commencement ceremonies from disruption.

春季学期已经只剩下几天时间，双方似乎都不太确定这件事该如何收场。学校领导层盼着夏天快点到来，希望能让五月的毕业典礼不被干扰，顺利进行。

Columbia faces one of the most complex balancing acts between protecting students on campus and respecting its deeply cherished commitment to academic freedom. The university is home to large Jewish and Arab student populations and boasts a leading Middle Eastern studies department, a dual degree program with Israel’s Tel Aviv University and a rich history of student activism dating back to the 1960s.

哥大一方面要保护校园里的学生，另一方面又要尊重其奉为圭臬的学术自由，在两者间找到平衡将是极为困难的。这所大学有众多犹太和阿拉伯学生，另外还拥有一个顶尖的中东研究院系，与以色列特拉维夫大学合作的双学位项目，以及可以上溯到上世纪60年代的学生行动主义历史。

Shafik, an international finance expert with few prior connections to Columbia, has conceded the university was unprepared for the outpouring that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. She had been ceremonially inaugurated just days before. But as the protests escalated and the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania lost their jobs after botching their own appearances before Congress in December, she slowly began clamping down.

作为一名国际金融专家，沙菲克此前与哥大没有什么联系，她承认学校对10月7日哈马斯袭击后的情绪爆发缺乏准备。当时她的就职仪式刚刚过去没几天。然而随着抗议的升级，哈佛大学和宾夕法尼亚大学校长相继因12月在国会听证会上的拙劣表现而丢掉了工作，她渐渐开始采取更严厉的态度。

In the fall, the university suspended two student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, whose rolling protests repeatedly violated its policies. This month, it suspended students who it said had been involved in an event called “Resistance 101,” where speakers openly praised Hamas.

校方在秋天取缔了两个学生团体——巴勒斯坦正义学生团体和犹太和平之声，这两个团体发起的声势浩大的抗议屡次违反校方的规定。本月，校方又对据称参与了一场名为“抵抗101”的活动的学生进行停学处理，该活动的讲者公开称赞了哈马斯。

By the time she was called to testify before the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Work Force this month, it looked as if Shafik might avoid the fate of the other Ivy League presidents targeted by Congress.

本月被传召到共和党领导的众议院教育和劳动力委员会作证时，沙菲克看上去可以避免重蹈其他被国会盯上的常春藤盟校校长的覆辙。

Columbia spent months preparing for the hearing. Shailagh Murray, a former adviser to President Barack Obama who oversees the university’s public affairs office, recruited a large team of lawyers, old political hands and antisemitism experts to prep Shafik. It included Dana Remus, President Joe Biden’s former White House counsel; Risa Heller, a crisis communications guru; former Republican congressional aides; and Philippe Reines, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton.

哥大花了几个月的时间准备听证会。奥巴马总统的前顾问、负责该校公共事务办公室的谢拉赫·默里招募了一个由律师、政治行家和反犹问题专家组成的庞大团队，为沙菲克做准备。其中包括拜登总统的前白宫法律顾问达娜·雷姆斯；危机公关专家丽萨·海勒；前共和党国会助手；以及希拉里·克林顿的长期助手菲利普·莱恩斯。

哥伦比亚大学的学生人数、地理位置和激进主义历史为其领导层带来了特殊的挑战。

Many team members gathered in the Washington offices of the law firm Covington & Burling, beginning the Saturday before the hearing, for mock testimony.

从听证会的前一个周六开始，许多团队成员聚集在科文顿和伯灵律师事务所的华盛顿办公室，进行听证会的模拟演练。

Shafik was determined not to make the same mistakes as her Ivy League counterparts, according to the people familiar with her preparation. Where their testimony came off as haughty and convoluted, she wanted to project humility and competence.

据了解沙菲克准备情况的人士透露，她决心避免其他常春藤盟校校长们犯下的错误。他们的证词在有些方面显得傲慢和婉转，而她想在这些方面表现出谦逊和干练。

The university handed the committee thousands of pages of documents, including sensitive records that almost never become public. They showed that Columbia had suspended more than 15 students and removed five professors from the classroom, including at least three facing accusations that they had made Jewish students feel unsafe.

校方向委员会提交了数以千计页的文件，包括几乎从未公开的敏感记录。文件显示，哥伦比亚大学已经让超过15名学生停学，并让五名教授离开课堂，其中至少有三名教授面临着让犹太学生感到不安全的指控。

哥伦比亚大学的许多教师批评沙菲克处置学生抗议的手段。

Although her testimony on the disciplinary cases made supporters of academic freedom furious, the approach appeared to work inside the hearing room. Shafik defended free speech rights but said universities “cannot and should not tolerate abuse of this privilege.”

尽管她在纪律处分个案方面的证词让学术自由的支持者非常愤怒，但这种方法在听证会上似乎很奏效。沙菲克为言论自由辩护，但表示，大学“不能也不应该容忍对这一特权的滥用”。

Grudging Republicans largely accepted the answers.

心怀积怨的共和党人基本上接受了这些回答。

“Columbia beats Harvard and U Penn,” Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., teased from the dais.

“哥大击败了哈佛和宾大，”佛罗里达州共和党众议员亚伦·比恩在讲台上揶揄道。

But as Shafik slowly dispatched one potential crisis, student organizers were carrying out a plan to escalate their own pressure on the university.

但就在沙菲克慢慢化解一场潜在危机的同时，学生组织者正在实施一项计划，加大他们对大学的压力。

In the predawn hours before Shafik’s scheduled testimony Wednesday, dozens of students poured out of dorms and apartments into a grassy quad outside Columbia’s main library and pitched tents. When campus awoke, a sign posted on the lawn announced the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” openly defying rules governing demonstrations.

在沙菲克预定于周三作证前的黎明时分，数十名学生从宿舍和公寓涌进哥大主图书馆外的草地，搭起帐篷。当校园醒来时，草坪上张贴着“加沙声援营地”的标志，公然无视有关示威的规定。

Columbia administrators issued their first warning to participants to disperse at 9:30 a.m., just as Shafik was preparing to take the witness stand. But by the time she got back to Covington’s glass-walled offices to turn her prep room into a war room, the students had not budged.

学校管理人员在上午9点30分向参与者发出了第一次疏散警告，当时沙菲克正要坐上证人席。但是，当她回到科文顿的玻璃墙办公室，把她的准备室变成作战室时，学生们并没有动摇。

在校长前往国会作证的同一天，学生抗议者在哥伦比亚大学校园中心的草坪上搭起帐篷。

“The genocide in Gaza is too unbearable for us to continue to allow our university to ignore every single democratic attempt that we have tried,” said Maryam Alwan, an undergraduate who helped organize the demonstration.

“加沙的种族灭绝令我们难以忍受，我们不能继续让我们的大学无视我们所做的每一次民主尝试，”参与组织示威活动的本科生玛丽亚姆·阿尔万说。

Organizers said they held hours of discussions with a senior university vice president to see if the two sides could find an off-ramp. The students were demanding the university divest from any financial interests enriching Israel and grant amnesty for all activists under investigation for protest actions, among other demands.

组织者说，他们与大学的一位高级副校长进行了几个小时的讨论，看看双方是否能找到一个解决办法。学生们要求学校从任何有利于以色列的金融利益中撤资，并赦免所有因抗议活动而受到调查的活动人士，此外还有其他要求。

To some observers, though, it looked as if both sides were more interested in proving a point than de-escalating.

然而，在一些观察人士看来，双方似乎更想证明自己的观点，而不是缓和局势。

“You had hard heads on both ends who wanted a confrontation,” said James Applegate, a professor of astronomy and member of the University Senate’s executive committee. “They got what they wanted.”

“双方都有希望发生冲突的顽固分子，”天文学教授、哥大教务会执行委员会成员詹姆斯·阿普尔盖特说。“他们如愿以偿了。”

Shafik, meanwhile, began a series of calls with university deans, some of whom worried the university was proceeding without proper contingency plans. Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, she formally notified the University Senate of her intention to call in the Police Department. Its executive committee replied with explicit disapproval, Applegate said.

与此同时，沙菲克开始与大学的院长们进行一系列通话，其中一些人担心大学在没有适当应急计划的情况下就开始行动。周三下午5点左右，她正式通知教务会，她打算请警察局出面。阿普尔盖特说，教务会执行委员会明确表示不赞成。

The decision was destined to be fraught. The city’s police officers have rarely been welcomed on campus since the 1968 protests, when they helped violently remove students occupying university buildings at the height of the anti-war movement.

这个决定注定充满争议。自1968年的抗议活动以来，纽约市警察在校园里基本不受欢迎，当年他们在反战运动最激烈的时候，用暴力驱逐了占领大学建筑的学生。

抗议的学生向大学提出了一系列要求，其中包括从与以色列有关系的公司撤资。

But Shafik was adamant that the rules be enforced. Police warned her the encampment would only get harder to root out the longer it lasted. And with Congress and the Biden administration scrutinizing how Columbia was handling antisemitic threats, she had legal concerns about failing to act. She began making arrangements for police to arrive the next day.

但沙菲克坚决要求照章办事。警方警告她，营地持续的时间越长，铲除起来就越困难。由于国会和拜登政府正在审查哥大如何处理反犹威胁，她担心不行动会有法律后果。她开始为第二天警察的到来做准备。

“I have determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger,” she wrote to the Police Department the next day.

“我认定营地和相关的破坏活动构成了明显而现实的危险，”她在第二天写信给警察局。

On Wednesday evening, Shafik did not head back to New York to be on hand when police arrived, however. She decided to keep a long-standing plan to attend a private dinner in Washington for the Bezos Earth Fund, according to a university spokesperson. Shafik ended up fielding so many calls that she never had time to eat, she said.

然而，周三晚上沙菲克并没有回纽约，在警方到场时给予协助。据一位大学发言人说，她决定按照很早以前制定的计划，参加在华盛顿为贝佐斯地球基金举办的私人晚宴。沙菲克说，到头来她只是接了很多电话，连吃饭的时间都没有。

Back on campus, just before the university’s final deadline to disperse passed that night, students in the encampment gathered for a meeting. Closing their eyes for a secret ballot, they were asked for a show of hands if anyone wanted to disband rather than face repercussions.

在校园里，就在那天晚上校方规定的最后疏散期限之前，营地里的学生聚集在一起开会。他们闭上眼睛进行无记名投票，如果有人想解散营地以避免受到惩罚，就请举手。

No one raised a hand, according to a student organizer who counted the votes.

据清点投票的一名学生组织者说，当时没有人举手。