Harvard University has introduced measures to protect students facing caste discrimination after demands from South Asian graduate student...
Harvard University has introduced measures to protect students facing caste discrimination after demands from South Asian graduate student workers, reported NBC News on Friday.
Earlier this week, the university ratified the contract of the Graduate Student Union and caste was included as the new protected category. The student organisers had been pushing for this since March.
The decision followed after around nine months of discussions between the union and the administration with support from Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights organisation.
The university refused to answer the news channel’s questions on the development, but confirmed that the contract had been ratified.
Discrimination based on the Hindu caste system has prevailed in campuses across the United States as immigration from South Asia increased since the 1980s, according to NBC News.
In the United States, 25% of Dalits have faced either verbal or physical assault, and one out of three students from the community has reported that they faced bias that had an adverse impact on their education, according to a study by Equality Labs.
According to the Equality Labs report, two out of three Dalit students said they had been treated unfairly at work and 60% reported facing caste-based derogatory jokes or remarks.
About 40% Dalits and 14% Shudra respondents were...
