终于出事了

早些时候从学校出来的时候，看到NY1, NBC4, ABC等 各家电视台的转播车停在学校门口。校长中午给大家发了一封电子邮件，告知校内一位黑人教授今早在家门口发现一段绞索和带有威胁性的文字，因此校长希望大家 提供线索以便于迅速破案。看来电视台也是风闻了这个消息，睹在学校门口采访老师和学生。好事不出门，坏事传千里，在那里都一样。上个星期伊朗总统访问哥大 的盛况在我们学校门口小规模重演，大家都有点莫名其妙的兴奋—终于出事了！

From NY Times.

Hate-Crime Investigation at Columbia

hangman’s noose was found hanging on the door of a black professor’s office at Columbia University Teacher’s College on Tuesday morning, prompting the police to start a hate-crime investigation.

Detectives with the New York Police Department’s hate-crime task force were investigating whether the noose, which was discovered on the fourth floor of the college at about 9:45 a.m., was put there by a rival professor or by a student who was angry over a dispute. Colleagues of the professor identified her as Madonna Constantine, 44, a prominent author, educator and psychologist.

Ms. Constantine is a professor of psychology and education at Columbia and has published several books on race relations, including “Addressing Racism” in 2006 and “Strategies for Building Multicultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings” in 2007. Derald Wing Sue, one of her co-authors and a fellow professor at Columbia, said Ms. Constantine was devastated by the incident.

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Email from Lee Bollinger

Dear fellow member of the Columbia community:As most of you now know, a terrible incident of bias occurred atTeachers College yesterday, directed at a member of the faculty.Teachers College is a cherished affiliate of Columbia Universitywith its own president, Susan Fuhrman, to whom I have offered oursupport and assistance. We may be two independent institutions, butwe are one community; and we stand together in our commitment tooppose the frightening sentiments that lay behind this act.

Tolerance and mutual respect are among the core values of ourdiverse community, and all of us must confront acts of hatewhenever they occur within it. As I said last night, an attack onthe dignity of any member of our community is an assault on all ofus.I will be meeting with student leaders this afternoon, and othermembers of the administration will be communicating with facultyand students in the coming days.

Our mission as a universityincludes addressing the most important and searing issues of ourtime, and we have a particular obligation to respond forcefully toevents that affront our values.

Sincerely,

Lee C. Bollinger

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不介意坐地铁的原因，就是喜欢在地铁里看人。早晨起来，很多上班族就带着墨镜，不是为了装酷，而是不想让人看到惺忪的睡眼。晚上下班，office ladies脱下了高跟鞋，穿着正装，登着拖鞋，名牌手袋里载着疲倦的高跟鞋。

一个卖艺人从隔壁的车厢冲进来，脚还未站稳，就开始拨弄吉他，同时吹奏口琴。和别的卖艺人不同，他不唱风花雪月，直接对着布什总统开骂，他唱道，“感谢你的帮忙，我的兄弟成了伊拉克的尸首”。工作了一天的纽约客们，听到这么一段嬉笑怒骂，都觉得开心，小费也给得格外的慷慨。

这个时候，旁边快车道上的Q线地铁从后面超了过来。我一动不动地凝视着对面的地铁，好像在看一部默片时代的电影。对面车上的乘客们，沉默不语，由于两车速度的差异，对面的车厢不断地从我们的车窗外掠过去，好像是一格一格的电影底片再往前跳。那些沉默的面孔带着地壳下面所隐藏的悲哀，带着不可思议的清晰度呈现在我的面前。那些人，好像生活在和我平行的宇宙里面，我可以看到他们，但是我们平行的时间和空间，使得我们永远不可能接触。