California Varsity Board unanimously votes to recognise protection from caste discrimination

The recognition of caste as a dimension of discrimination is gaining institutional support in the U.S.

The California State University (CSU) system’s board of trustees voted unanimously on Tuesday to ratify a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its faculty union that adds caste to the list of categories that are protected against discrimination. The move comes after a few hundred individuals allied with trade coalitions and rights groups as well as faculty wrote in support of the move, which was opposed by a smaller group of eighty-plus faculty that said it would target Indian and South Asian origin individuals for special scrutiny.

The addition of caste as a ‘protected category’ to the CBA with the union (the California Faculty Association or CFA), follows from an earlier move by the 23- campus system to bring caste into the purview of its anti-discrimination policy.