为了高校内部多样性和学术自由而对话 ─ 美国福特基金会”艰难对话”倡导述评

Dialogues for Promoting Pluralism and Academic Freedom on Campus：The Review on Ford Foundation “Difficult Dialogues” Initiative

多样性在为美国社会注入巨大活力和能量的同时，也对国家和大学提出了严峻的挑战。尽管美国许多高校都十分关注并努力消除多样性带来的问题，但是其成效并不理想。2005年，福特基金会发起了”艰难对话”的倡议，致力于在美国高校内部推动维护宗教、文化和政治方面多样性及学术自由的对话行话，并为此努力营造进行公开和自由的建设性对话的氛围。经过两年的推广，该倡议取得了良好的成效。该倡议以及各校的研究项目为面临相似问题的中国大学提供了良好的借鉴。

Although pluralism has brought about great dynamics to American society， it has also caused severe problems. Many universities and colleges have been trying to solve the problems cause by pluralism， but it didn’t work well. Ford Foundation launched the “Difficult Dialogues” initiative in 2005， inviting American colleges and universities to join in to promote constructive dialogue about contentious political， religious， racial and cultural issues， and protect academic freedom. There were 43 institutions engaging in the initiative. This initiative has deep impact on each institution to rethink and explore about these contentious issues. With internationalization of higher education， especially with the increase in enrollment， universities of China are confronting with similar problems. The Difficult Dialogue Initiative may provide references for universities of China.