Thread by @SuhagAShukla

Another day, another US college student group adding “caste” as a “protected class.”

To be clear, Harvard hasn’t changed its anti-disc policy, but a grad student contract was.

Unpacking this piece by @sakshi_saroja shows why this move is so misguided.

nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…

There is no “Hindu” caste system. Hindu Vedas don’t refer to a birth-based hierarchy & varna, based on qualities, was never immutable. But calling a discriminatory system with societal/colonial origins “Hindu” nicely targets only Hindus for policing & censure.

The insinuation that casteism pervades South Asian communities is false & the obligatory citation to the @EqualityLabs report is damning. @CarnegieEndow’s scientific survey found caste disc to be a rare occurrence in the US (5% of respondents) & dismissed the EL effort as below:

This Indian graduate student is befuddled when asked if “caste” disc is already covered under existing law. It is!!

Disc based on national origin is already prohibited and discrimination on both national origin and ancestry have been interpreted to cover caste.

Why add caste?

The @Harvard grad student worked with Equality Labs to convince negotiators to add caste. The same EL whose director attacked @Twitter’s new CEO labeling him with the wrong “caste” category! If Equality Labs can’t identify a person’s “caste” how will Harvard administrators?

https://twitter.com/SuhagAShukla/status/1465492532910084098

How would @Harvard define what caste is when there is no scholarly consensus? Ask 100 people what caste is, you get 100 different answers. Will Harvard keep a database of Indian names and add a category for caste? Force Indians to get a “caste certificate?” Wear a patch!?

There will be unintended consequences. @Harvard could jeopardize the well-being, safety, and rights to equal protection and due process for hundreds of Hindu & South Asian students.

See our testimony when the issue came up in Santa Clara: hinduamerican.org/press/santa-cl…

Instead of solving a problem, @Harvard creates a new one by unconstitutionally marking a religious & ethnic minority as a suspect class on the basis of its national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, or religion.

This may suit EL’s #Hinduphobic agenda. Is that what @Harvard wants?

We must condemn all forms of disc including caste-based disc. When it happens, report it. But use existing law.

The power of existing law to provide protection against disrimination and mete out justice in its wake is generally applicable and facially neutral. Caste is not.