Yeah, This is Contemptible

The California State University system has added caste based discrimination to its list of prohibited behavior.  This is a good thing, as a number of students in the system have complained about discrimination on the basis of their Dalit (Untouchable) status.

The California State University system last week updated its nondiscrimination policy to include caste, making it the first university system in the country to enact such a policy, the Los Angeles Times reported.

While caste is banned in India and other South Asian countries, the system of social hierarchy still exists in practice, and some California State students of Asian descent have reported encountering caste discrimination on campus. The systemwide policy, which will cover all 23 campuses, will allow students to report anti-Dalit bias, or discrimination against what has historically been the most oppressed caste. The move comes after years of activism among Dalit students, including Prem Pariyar, a Nepali Dalit social worker and alum of California State University, East Bay, who first advocated for caste protections in the department of social work.

“When I faced caste discrimination within the campus and outside in the community, I felt very disappointed and low. I thought I had left caste discrimination behind in Nepal,” Pariyar said in a press release. “But I was wrong. I have been experiencing caste discrimination in every sphere of my life even in the U.S.”

So caste discrimination is a problem, but some of the faculty of the Cal State system have are offended that they will be denied their right to discriminate on the basis of caste:

After over 80 Indian-origin professors at California State University (CSU) in the US opposed its move to add caste as a ‘protected’ category under its anti-discrimination policy, students and alumni of the institution have hit back, alleging that the professors were “attempting to silence Dalit voices”.

………

Prem Periyar, a Nepali Dalit and CSU alumni who has been leading the movement to introduce caste as a ‘protected’ category in the university’s policy, told ThePrint that it was “disheartening” to see professors of South Asian decent object to the same.

“During the meeting of the academic senate, when the draft resolution was being discussed, a professor of South Asian heritage objected saying that this is an Indian issue and was not relevant in the US. How is it an Indian issue if I am being ostracised here, on campus, for being a Dalit student?” he added.

The 30-year-old further said: “When I left Nepal in 2015 to come to the US, I thought I had left my caste identity behind. This letter is nothing but an attempt to silence Dalit voices.”

Krystal Raynes, a 21-year-old undergraduate student at CSU Bakersfield, told ThePrint over phone that attempts have been made by Asian professors to “gaslight” Dalit students.

………

Manmit Singh, a student at San Francisco State University, told ThePrint over phone: “These threats and intimidation tactics not only expose the impunity with which these caste bigots act, but also indicate the necessity for caste protections.”

The California State Student Association (CSSA) had passed a resolution to add ‘caste’ as a category to the CSU anti-discrimination policy in April last year. The CSSA describes itself as “the single recognised voice” for more than 4.8 lakh [480.000] students at the university.

However, in an open letter, more than 80 Indian-origin professors of CSU had called the move “a misguided overreach” and demanded that the Collective Bargaining Agreement — a legal contract between the students’ union and the university — be approved “only after removal of the discriminatory insertion of ‘caste’ as an additional category”.

This sounds an awful lot like segregationists in the south defending their "heritage".  It's a pity that the many both the "Good old boys" and the many of the high caste Indian Americans can't let go of their old bigoted ways.

Call me naive, but America should not be about this.