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MASTER’S MESSAGE 院長致辭
Professor Nicholas Rawlins 汪寧笙教授
It is a particular pleasure for me to write this, my first Master’s Report, and to welcome all our newly arriving students, our new Junior Fellows, and our returning students to the start of the academic year. I know that the newcomers will already have been greeted and made to feel at home at Morningside, just as Lalla and I were when we arrived last December. This welcoming spirit even extends to the senior dog who has generously shared with two very much smaller interlopers the space and attention that were formerly his alone, despite finding that his treats get shared out as well. I am equally confident that returning students will experience a feeling of coming home. The location and its views, and the people who work, study and live here, all combine to make Morningside a place that feels like home, as it already does to Lalla and me.
The best universities constantly evolve yet still retain their souls; and so, of course, do the best colleges. Morningsiders owe a great debt of gratitude to all those who provided the foundations for the place that we have inherited but who then stepped aside leaving us to carry on. First and foremost are our Founding Master, Professor Sir James Mirrlees who with Lady Mirrlees did so much to establish Morningside’s genius loci, and the Committee of Overseers who supported them. Daniel Auerbach, Leonie Ki, Anthony Neoh, Jesús Seade, and Alex K. Yasumoto have demitted their roles, but their memorial remains. It is all around us, and the College is immensely grateful to them all. Gerald Chan and James Lin have remained on the Committee and are joined by Adriel Chan, Sebastian Man and Professor Nelson Chen, who retired from CUHK and Morningside College this summer but has taken on this new connection to the College: I salute them all and very much look forward to working together.
Professor Chris Gane also retires this summer. He had been the Acting Master for almost a year before my arrival. The College could not have been in wiser hands and I could not have had better counsel as I learned my way around. He and the team who worked with him – particularly Professors Ann Huss and Colin Graham, and the College Secretary Dora Dai – looked after the College and its interests in an exemplary
fashion and discreetly, but nonetheless effectively, smoothed my path. I am deeply grateful to them all. They, along with the wider Fellowship and College membership – both students and staff – make this the special place that it is.
The year gone by had its difficulties, but Morningside thrived despite them. Just cast an eye over the photographs, or the reports from the service trips, or the reports on exchanges and the College’s inimitable General Education courses, or University prizes and the Master’s List and you can see that. You can also sense, and instantly feel when you meet our students, the life-changing power and values of the best education. They can think for themselves, seek out and assimilate new information, and resolve issues creatively and fairly. They have learned how to set their imaginations free yet still remember they can be wrong.
The coming year will clearly have its own distinctive issues. When times are difficult, and opinions are divided, it can be hard to remain constructive while being critical, or supportive and respectful while being challenged (or when challenging). But societies need to remain cohesive despite – actually, because of – a diversity of backgrounds and outlooks, and colleges are just the kinds of societies that do this best; indeed, they can act as models for other institutions. Education matters more than ever; communication matters more than ever; that’s why we’re all here. I look forward to a great year for you all, and another great year for Morningside College. I’m very happy to be sharing it with you.
很高興能夠在新學期開始時為我首份報告撰辭，並歡迎所 有加入晨興的新生、通識導師，還有在暑假後重返校園的 學生。我知道新加入的學生和導師，跟我和 Lalla 去年 12 月來到晨興的時候一樣，都受到熱情招待。住在晨興的人 和狗同樣熱情；即使零食被瓜分了，牠仍然慷慨地跟兩隻 「不速之狗」分享本來可以獨享的地盤和別人的關注。我深 信回校的晨興人同樣會感到像回家一樣。這裏的位置、景 觀，在這裏工作、學習和居住的人，令人感到在晨興猶如 在家一般，而我和 Lalla 正有同感。
最優秀的大學跟最優秀的書院一樣，既要不斷進化，又要 保留其獨有的特質。對於那些在書院發展初期貢獻心力、 功成身退的眾多賢能之士，晨興上下無不心存感激。首 先，是我們的創院院長莫理斯爵士，他與夫人為奠立晨興 的精神貢獻良多；協助他們的院監會成員也功不可沒：已 退任的 Daniel Auerbach、紀文鳳、梁定邦、施雅德、康本 健守，作出的貢獻讓書院上下永誌不忘。陳樂宗和林振宇 繼續留任院監會，陳文博、文肇偉，以及於今夏離開中文 大學和晨興、續以另一身份支持書院的陳丙驊教授，則加 入成為院監會成員。我向他們致敬，並熱切期待與他們合 作無間。 京柏年教授也於今夏退休。在我上任前，他擔任署理院長 近一年。他是出任此職的不二人選；在我仍然感到人地生 疏時，他大力幫助。他和晨興的團隊 — 尤其是何素楠教 授、簡家廉教授，還有院務主任戴佩華女士，專業盡心、 各司其職，有效管理書院，維護書院權益，使我往後的工 作更順利。我由衷感激他們各人。他們與院務委員及書院 的學生和員工，使這個地方變得與別不同。
過去一年不無挑戰，然而書院迎難而上，繼續茁壯成長。 只要看一下後頁的文字、看一下社會服務團和海外交流的 報告、書院獨特的通識教育課程，或所獲的大學獎項和院 長榮譽狀名單，就可見一斑。當你有機會跟我們的學生相 處，就會立刻感到優良教育改變人生的那種強大力量及重 要價值。我們的學生慎思明辨，勇於探求新知，能以具創 意而恰當的方法解決問題。他們學會放膽想像，小心求證。
明顯地，來年將會面對前所未見的問題。在艱難之時，在 意見分歧之際，要在受到批評時保持積極，或是在受到挑 戰（或挑戰別人）時保持尊重，著實不易。即使大家背景和 觀點不同，社會仍要保持團結，而書院正是能好好做到這 點的一個群體，甚至能成為其他機構的模範。教育空前重 要；溝通空前重要；這就是我們共聚於此的原因。我祝願 你們都有精彩美好的一年，也祝願晨興有更多姿多彩的一 年。我會樂於與你們分享其中點滴。
