Caste added to nondiscrimination

Brandeis University recently added "caste" to its nondiscrimination policy. Report of the move indicated that caste has long been a hidden issue, unrecognized although pervasive in settings with students from southeast Asia where the history of caste has been so prevalent. A little more than two years later, California State University added "caste" to its non-discrimination statement. The move was, again, focused on Asian students who have previously been subjugated through caste discrimination.

As other institutions considered or took action to add "caste" to their statements, the backlash began. Observers characterized the attacks on those advocating for the inclusion of "caste" as "part of a sustained effort by the Hindu right to uphold caste supremacy under the guise of fighting an imagined "Hinduphobia" - an effort that will, in all likelihood, only grow in intensity as the anticaste movement in the United States continues to gain steam.