【留学之声】反对“那个”政治化– 致南加州大学的一封公开信

2020年9月6日 13:45

尊敬的Carol Folt校长和Charles F. Zukoski教务长，

首先，我谨代表个人感谢校方在COVID-19期间对中国学生的帮助。这是一段非常困难的时期，我身边不少滞留在美国的中国学生都面临着住房问题、食物不足和经济困难。在校方所发起的Student Basic Needs项目的帮助下，您们给予了同学们巨大的支持，包括一次性的助学金和免费的膳食计划。这些举措极大地帮助了包括我在内的中国学生继续在美完成学业。

昨天晚上，我和很多中国同学得知一位南加州大学Marshall商学院的教授，Greg Patton，由于在zoom讲课时说了听起来像种族蔑称的中文词语“那个”，已被校方暂时停止教学工作，理由是部分非裔学生认为Patton教授说“那个”对他们造成了心理上的严重困扰。我想说，非裔学生并没有错，在白人警察暴力执法和美国种族示威的大背景下，我能感受到非裔学生的愤怒。Patton教授也没有错，他只不过是以一个中文语气助词为例子解释一个课堂上的概念，只是这个中文语气助词“那个”，听起来像对美国黑人的种族蔑称。

很多南加州大学的学生都认为，这个事件从根本上是一个文化上的误会，而Patton教授不应受到处罚。即使听起来像种族蔑称，“那个”在中文中是一个非常常用的词语，而Patton教授在当时的语境下对这个词语的运用与种族歧视毫无关系。例如，我们知道，竖大拇指的手势几乎在全世界公认的意思是“好、没问题、一切顺利”，但在很多中东国家，竖大拇指则是一个挑衅的行为，如果不了解文化，就可能会产生误会。我认为，这个事件本质上是一个文化问题，而不是政治问题。校方对这件事情的处理则是把文化问题政治化了，而这与南加州大学一直以来主张的文化多元、公平、包容原则相悖。

极少数别有用心的人和媒体对此事推波助澜，将其变成在美国全国范围内，甚至国际上产生巨大影响的事件，目的是将美国黑人对白人警察的愤怒转移到中国人，特别是中国留学生身上。例如，我注意到一篇网络文章的标题十分令人不安：《这就是种族歧视：加州教授被停职，学生要求情感上的支持以消除中文词语的有害影响》（THAT’s racist: California professor suspended, students offered emotional ‘support’ to remedy ‘harmful impact’ of CHINESE word）。本质上是美国黑人和白人警察之间的矛盾，中国学生却有变成替罪羊的风险，因此我建议校方应及时洞察这个令人不安的趋势，主动做出表率，保护南加大的中国学生群体。

特洛伊精神的核心是学生、校友之间的团结，而这种团结不应因为文化上的误会而产生嫌隙。Patton教授并无恶意，而校园也不应成为政治角力的竞技场。我相信，在校方和全体学生、校友的共同努力下，每一位不同族裔、不同文化背景的南加大学子必能变得更加团结、更加具有凝聚力，在南加州灿烂的阳光下更好地学习。

此致敬礼，

南加州大学Annenberg传播学院大四学生

杨凡

附：Change.org Petition <Re-instate USC Marshall Professor Greg Patton>

URL：https://www.change.org/p/university-of-southern-california-re-instate-usc-marshall-professor-greg-patton?source_location=topic_page

USC Professor Greg Patton was recently placed on leave after students complained that his pronunciation of a Chinese word affected their mental health(Source: http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2020/09/04/usc-marshall-professor-placed-on-leave-after-using-chinese-phrase-that-resembles-racial-slur/).

In a discussion on filler words, the professor of Business Communications used the Mandarin Chinese word for “that” as an example that Chinese speakers frequently over-use. “That” or 那个” is pronounced as“nà ge” or “nèi ge”, which has a phonetic similarity to a racial slur used to describe African Americans. It is clear from this recording of the class that the word was used as a Chinese word and not as a racial slur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M0aD78sw8U (Disclaimer: I am not the owner of this video or this youtube channel).

The context of this discussion was clearly an academic lecture on communication and professor Greg Patton was describing a universal mistake commonly made in communication. For him to be censored simply because a Chinese word sounds like an English pejorative term is a mistake and is not appropriate, especially given the educational setting. It also dismisses the fact that Chinese is a areal language and has its own pronunciations that have no relation to English.

It is not credible that Greg Patton purposefully mispronounced this term as a form of racial discrimination. His faculty page and CV describes him as a professor in China and a faculty member of the US-China Institute, among other things: https://www.marshall.usc.edu/personnel/greg-patton If anyone is qualified to make this comment, it is likely him.

Our schools and campuses need to be places where free speech and open conversation are respected. While bias and discrimination have no place in our universities, mindless censorship is equally harmful.

We demand that Greg Patton be re-instated as Professor of Business Communications at USC Marshall and taken off leave.