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the world was created

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The beginning of the Caste System. Without this day, this essay wouldn't exist would it?

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India banning Caste-system. The start of protection for Indians. Also, the caste-system is against the American Dream

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The equality lab made a survey and a lot of arguing became active. Later, more companies, seeing a strong technology brand lie about discrimination protection, made sure they employees were being treated write.

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Colby College agrees to put protection against Caste-system discrimination

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Colby College in Maine announced Tuesday that it has updated its nondiscrimination policy to include caste, a system of inherited social class, making it the second institution in the nation to create such a policy, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The decision to include casteism -- traditionally linked with South Asian culture -- as a form of discrimination was spearheaded by Sonja Thomas, associate professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies. Colby's announcement said, "Caste serves as an unchangeable marker of status and access" and "defines major life events, such as who one can marry, and those with caste power can be gatekeepers of access to high-paying status jobs."

Additionally, the announcement noted that opportunities shrink for lower castes, especially for Adivasis, Indigenous people of South Asia, and Dalits, the most oppressed in the caste system. Both groups are vulnerable to being victims of segregation, violence or discrimination because of their designation of being in a lower caste.

While Colby doesn't have a large South Asian population, students enrolling at colleges nationwide increasingly represent other, less dominant castes, Thomas said in the announcement. She added that caste discrimination has an impact on student learning and harms "both South Asian Americans and other races, too."

The move by Colby follows Brandeis University, which added caste identity as "a recognized and protected characteristic" in the institution's antidiscrimination policy in 2019. Thomas said she hopes the policy becomes a model for other institutions.

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Colby College Bans Discrimination Based on Caste

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Colby College in Maine announced Tuesday that it has updated its nondiscrimination policy to include caste, a system of inherited social class, making it the second institution in the nation to create such a policy, the Bangor Daily News reported.

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The federal Law filed a sue on the tech company, Cisco, of acting caste-based discrimination while promising that they prohibit discrimination to anything.

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A federal lawsuit alleged that a Hindu organization was forcing many lower-caste men to work less than the minimum amount paid.

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UC Davis adds caste to its anti-discrimination policy.

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DAVIS, Calif. -- The University of California, Davis, has added caste to its anti-discrimination policy after students said they have seen discrimination take place at the university based on the South Asian practice of assigning people their social status at birth.

Under UC Davis' policy, which was amended in September, students or staff who face discrimination or harassment for their perceived castes can now file complaints that could result in formal investigations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.

The Northern California university may be the first public institution to address caste discrimination, which was largely imported from South Asia.

"The significance of adding caste ... is it ensures that the communities most impacted and most vulnerable to this type of discrimination or harassment know that the university recognizes the harm caused," Danésha Nichols, director of UC Davis' Harassment & Discrimination Assistance and Prevention Program, told the newspaper.

Students started pushing for the change after receiving insulting memes in their group chats and overhearing South Asian students ask each other what caste they belonged to before picking roommates, the newspaper reported.

Estimated to be thousands of years old, caste is rooted in India's Hindu scripture. It long placed Dalits at the bottom of a social hierarchy, once terming them "untouchables." Inequities and violence against Dalits have persisted even though India banned caste discrimination in 1950.

The practice has traveled outside of India to Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and occurs among Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Buddhists, said Anjali Arondekar, a professor and co-director of the Center for South Asian Studies at University of California, Santa Cruz told the newspaper.

"Caste is really about labor segmentation and sustained inequality through the years - millenniums, really," she said.

India's caste system, which assigns people their social statuses at birth, places Dalits, once called "untouchables," at the bottom of its social hierarchy that can determine where they live, what schools they can attend, what jobs they can get and where they marry.

Last year, California regulators sued Cisco Systems, saying an engineer faced discrimination at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters because he is a Dalit Indian.

The engineer worked on a team at Cisco's San Jose headquarters with Indians who all immigrated to the U.S. as adults, and all of whom were of high caste, according to the lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

The "higher caste supervisors and co-workers imported the discriminatory system's practices into their team and Cisco's workplace," the lawsuit said, and that the company did not "substantiate any caste-based or related discrimination or retaliation."

Cisco Systems Inc., a major supplier of computer networking gear that makes the internet work, has said it would defend against the allegations in the complaint.

Caste is often based on a person's last names, the village or town a person comes from, and from their religious and social practices.

Prem Pariyar, a 37-year-old graduate student at California State University, East Bay, said his family would be physically assaulted because of their lower caste in his home country of Nepal. He said the last thing he expected was to face casteism when he moved to the U.S. in 2015.

But he faced it when interacting with other South Asians in the Bay Area - at his restaurant job, at the university, at community events and at dinner parties.

"Some will ask me my last name under the pretense of getting to know me, but are really trying to find out about my caste. Others have served me meals in separate plates and utensils after they find out I'm Dalit," Pariyar said.

He started organizing with other CSU students around the issue and their efforts led the Cal State Student Association, which represents all 23 CSU campuses, to recognize caste as a protected category this year. But the CSU school system itself has not made any changes to its discrimination policy. Pariyar was also part of the UC Davis campaign.

UC Davis' policy change feels like a big step for those trying to get caste discrimination recognized across the U.S.

"It is an issue, it's here and it's time to deal with it," he said.

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UC Davis adds caste to its anti-discrimination policy

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DAVIS, Calif. -- The University of California, Davis, has added caste to its anti-discrimination policy after students said they have seen discrimination take place at the university based on the South Asian practice of assigning people their social status at birth.

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Deepa Mohanan had gone on an 11-day hunger strike, demanding the removal of Professor Nandakumar Kalarickal who had hindered her research work for years at Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala.

Between spells of rain, the campus of Mahatma Gandhi University looks wet and beautifully green. Signboards on garden corners announce the eco-friendliness of the university that sprawls across acres in Kottayam's Athirampuzha. Emerging from a corner building is Deepa P Mohanan, with a paper in her hand. Dressed in printed white, she contrasts the colours of the campus, as she trudges towards the gates of the university.

Outside, under the red archway of the vast entrance, Deepa had camped without food for 11 days, only weeks ago, asking for her right to study without hindrance. A fundamental right she has been denied for years, because of the interference of one man, she said to anyone who listened. After 11 days, and two rounds of hospitalisation, her demands were finally met: she could continue her research with all the facilities she required, and the man who stood in her way was thrown out.

"The first thing I did upon ending the strike last Monday (November 9) was to take care of my health," Deepa says in an interview with TNM. "I had always been anaemic and needed medicines every day. But since I was not eating, I couldn't take the medicine. My haemoglobin level went down to 7.3, and there was variation in my ECG - I have been a heart patient since birth. So straight after the strike, I went to rest, to have food and take my medicine," Deepa adds. In her hand, she holds a copy of the university's order accepting her demands.

First, among the demands met, was the removal of Professor Nandakumar Kalarickal from the Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IIUCNN), where Deepa has been trying to do her PhD for the last seven years. Her fight began much before, in 2011, when she joined the centre to do her M.Phil.

To Deepa, the reason for his prejudice and countless acts of discrimination against her is very clear: casteism. She belongs to the Malayan community, a Scheduled Caste in Malabar region, and comes from the Kelakam village of Kannur. She grew up near the Pookondu colony in Kannur district, inhabited by members of the Paniya tribe, which falls under the Scheduled Tribes in Kerala.

"The roots of my desire to do higher studies go back to living in the colony I come from. In Kannur where I live, in my colony, no one - boy or girl - has studied beyond Class 10. I badly wanted that to change," Deepa says, during a late lunch at her favourite food joint outside campus, near the Athirampuzha church.

Life had not been easy before her Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU) days either. She remembers facing discrimination while pursuing a degree at Kannur University. But it got much worse when she moved to Kottayam and joined MGU.

First acts of discrimination

"When I joined MGU in 2011, there were three Dalit students in my batch, including me. All three of us were kept away from a six-month project in other campuses, which is part of the M.Phil. course, while other students were given opportunities. One of the Dalit students, a man, had a health problem and went to a company to do the project on his own and not through the university. Another woman and I had to do it on our campus and they made it difficult for both of us," Deepa says.

Deepa was in microbiology and Nandakumar in physics, but he was one of the two professors who had to approve her thesis presentation for her M.Phil. Sabu Thomas, the other professor, approved it, but Nandakumar did not. "When I came for my presentation, Nandakumar said in front of the examiner that my thesis was not approved and I was bringing it in my own interest. Just because of his stubbornness, my thesis was rejected, there were hardly any corrections in it. In fact, the examiner liked my presentation, gave me 8.5 on 10, and even said that it should be published in an international journal. The presentation was therefore accepted, but because of Nandakumar's prejudice, the thesis was rejected. I had to rework and present it again," Deepa says.

According to Deepa, it was worse for the other woman student. She was not even allowed to present her thesis. Instead, she was made to present it six months later, against the university guidelines, which would have required her to do the presentation only a year later, along with the next batch. "All of this is to put pressure on you till you tire out and leave. She didn't even have the family support that I had. It had badly affected her. With the support of friends, she somehow finished M.Phil. but after that she couldn't do a PhD like she desired," Deepa claims. This was due to the delay in issuing the M.Phil. certificates. It took a few years, and by then the student had to find an alternative course. "Luckily, I had cleared GATE and I could apply for a PhD in 2014," she says.

She had thought life would be easier even though she was joining the same centre for her PhD. Nandakumar was in a different department and she wouldn't have to interact with him. Her guide and co-guide were Sabu Thomas and Radhakrishnan, respectively - two names that would feature later in her story. "But Nandakumar had to approve the release of work materials and he asked them not to give me any. When funds were allotted, they'd ask all scholars about the materials they needed. I made my request but without giving any reasons, I was not allowed any. I was the only Dalit research student," Deepa says.

She borrowed material from her friends to do the work and submitted her reports. The next big insult came when it was time for her work presentation. Her PhD topic - wound healing applications using nanobiotechnology - was a continuation of her work from her M.Phil. She used her M.Phil data for the presentation. "There, in front of 50 others, Nandakumar claimed that I stole the data from another student called Robin Augustine. I understood later that Robin, Sabu Thomas, and Nandakumar published an article in an international journal using my data, and without giving me credit for it. I complained to the university, and to the police. But no action was taken. It was political pressure. He has the support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) - CPI(M), the party leading the Left government in the state," Deepa claims.

After the incident at the work presentation, Deepa found herself quite literally without a seat to sit and work from. She temporarily sat with the junior students but even that was soon not allowed. Nandakumar asked her to get up and go away, Deepa says. Afterward, she began doing her work in the library.

Casteist insults, locked in lab

The first time Nandakumar directly used a casteist insult against her was during an international conference in 2014, Deepa says. This was when she was put on duty to collect funds. "A few senior students, also on duty, had not done the work properly. But Nandakumar called me and said SC/ST students have no competence and cannot be given responsibilities. This was in December. Hardly a month later, a horrible incident occurred," Deepa says.

On January 10, 2015, Deepa was doing her microbiology work in the lab. It was a Saturday and as scholars do, she sometimes worked on the weekends, taking prior permission. "That day, Nandakumar came to the lab and asked me to get out. He called the lab-in-charge, who told him that I had taken permission. But he still wouldn't allow me to work. I called Sabu sir (Sabu Thomas) who was then the director of my centre. But when he came, Nandakumar was adamant that I should not be allowed to work and Sabu sir let him have his way. So I had to stop my work. But when I went away to remove the gear - gloves, mask, and coat - they locked the office door, locked the grill, and went away. I was locked inside. Luckily, I had my phone and I dialed the police. They came and got me out. But that evening, my guide Radhakrishnan called and asked me not to give a police complaint. And I didn't," she recalls.

Denied a seat, work material, subjected to casteist insults and more humiliation this PhD student in MGU, Kerala, went on a hunger strike to win her rights. She speaks of a few of those harrowing incidents#deepapmohanan pic.twitter.com/AnIQBoYzJx
- Cris (@cristweets) November 19, 2021

After this incident, Sabu Thomas and her guide promised her that there would be no more interference from Nandakumar in her work. But even then she was not issued work material and she had to continue with borrowed stuff. Two months later, Nandakumar was again in the picture. "He sent a student called Praveen to ask me to get out of the lab. I had no other option than to go ahead and make a complaint. With the knowledge of my guide, I gave a complaint to the university. Sheena Shukkur was then the pro-vice-chancellor. In my presence, she called Nandakumar on the phone. There was also a Syndicate member there. Sheena madam told us Nandakumar's response - he told her that if she did favours to Dalit students, the centre would lose its discipline," Deepa says.

This was yet another instance of Nandakumar directly making a casteist remark. The university, convinced of Deepa's case, ordered the centre to provide her work material and a seat and to not allow any interference from Nandakumar.

'Nandakumar has political support'

"But whatever was done, as long as Nandakumar was in the centre, he would try and stop my work. That is why, six years after the Mahatma Gandhi University order, I still could not do my research work. He created many difficulties, including cutting off the water supply in the lab. I had to approach the High Court in 2016-17, filing a writ for my rights. The High Court gave the vice-chancellor the responsibility of letting me complete my work. But the VC did nothing. I understood there was a lot of political pressure. Even KK Shailaja (MLA, former Minister of LDF) called to ask me to withdraw from the case," Deepa claims.

There was a syndicate investigation against Nandakumar, which found him guilty. The university lodged a complaint with the police asking for a case against Nandakumar under the SC/ST Atrocities act. Nandakumar had then lost directorship but was later reinstated.

"During my recent strike, the university had at first cited technical reasons that prevented them from removing Nandakumar. They claimed a High Court order had asked to reinstate him. But that's wrong. No court has given him a clean chit. He had approached the High Court to quash the FIR against him. The first investigating official had stated to the court that there was proof against him but this officer was then transferred. The new official in charge gave a report in favour of Nandakumar. The HC had to close his petition but didn't give him a clean chit. The case was registered at the Ettumanoor court and later shifted to Kottayam sessions court. It is still ongoing. I followed this up with an RTI in March 2017," Deepa says. "But when I went to the SP's office in Kottayam, women police officials beat me up and filed a criminal case against me," she further claims.

She had to be hospitalised because of the injuries from the beating but she refused to sign the FIR with charges against her. A magistrate then visited her at the hospital and took down her complaint on a piece of paper. "Then and there, the magistrate took a suo moto case against the police. I am saying that they even tried to send me to jail," Deepa adds.

'Hunger strike was the only way'

After this, she tried to get her course going, visiting the office of Sabu Thomas - who had become vice-chancellor by then - several times. It was when nothing else worked that she began her hunger strike on October 29, 2021.
Read: Kerala PhD scholar Deepa Mohanan's hunger strike is about casteism in academia
"In the first round of discussions to broker peace, the University said that they will arrange all facilities for me like it was a favour to me. But I stood firm on my demand that Nandakumar had to be removed. They tried to break the strike through mediators but I stuck on, with the help of organisations like Bhim Army Kerala, other Dalit organisations, some political parties like the Congress, the RMP, the SDPI, the Welfare Party, and even the CPI (an ally of the Left government). In the second round of discussions, they agreed to all my demands," Deepa says.

Amid her strike, posts that Deepa had put up during the time of Rohith Vemula's suicide cropped up. Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research student at the Hyderabad University and member of the Ambedkar Students' Association, had died by suicide in 2016 after he was suspended following a clash between the ASA and the ABVP - students' wing of the BJP. Rohith's suicide had triggered national protests and discussions against the discrimination of Dalit students on campuses. Deepa's posts at the time appeared critical of Rohith Vemula.

"I was not against Rohith, but his act of suicide. Suicide is never the answer, you need to fight for your rights," Deepa says when asked about the posts.

That's what she will continue to do, she says, fight for her rights. Not only for her sake but for many others facing such discrimination.
Also read: Deepa Mohanan's win exposes true face of the Left and Kerala's 'progressive' society

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Braving casteism to being beaten by cops, Deepa Mohanan recounts fight for justice

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Between spells of rain, the campus of Mahatma Gandhi University looks wet and beautifully green. Signboards on garden corners announce the eco-friendliness of the university that sprawls across acres in Kottayam's Athirampuzha. Emerging from a corner building is Deepa P Mohanan, with a paper in her hand.

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A movie director makes a movie about the Indian's problem in the United States about the Caste-System Discinimation.

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Mumbai (AFP) - Facing systemic exploitation and discrimination, India's lowest castes have barely been acknowledged on the big screen. Now independent, mostly non-Hindi language filmmakers are challenging attitudes with powerful stories of injustice to give them a voice.

Many of the directors are from the Tamil film industry "Kollywood" -- nicknamed after Chennai's Kodambakkam district where many studios are based -- with some from the oppressed communities at the bottom of the country's rigid caste system.

In a vast nation of 22 official tongues, Kollywood and other minority-language producers are often overshadowed by the glitzy, Hindi Bollywood.

But Tamil legal drama "Jai Bhim", released on Amazon's streaming platform instead of cinemas, has attracted rave reviews and currently stands as the highest-rated film by all voters globally on movie database IMDb, with a score of 9.5.

Based on the true story of a lawyer battling for justice for a tribal woman whose husband was accused of theft and tortured and killed in police custody, "Jai Bhim" has been praised for its unflinching portrayal of judicial violence.

It has also been hailed as the latest movie to defy film stereotypes of lower castes as voiceless victims by dignifying their lives and portraying them as people with agency.

"The reason these injustices happen to people who are vulnerable is because we don't raise our voices," said director T.J. Gnanavel, 42.

"We wanted it to be that voice. I wanted to say that the silence of the society is more brutal than police brutality," he told AFP.

K. Chandru, the lawyer who inspired the role played by Tamil superstar Suriya, went on to become a judge and says young Indians tell him they were ignorant of such tribal groups and the abuse they face.

"Everybody wants to know what we can do for them... That's the greatest victory of this film," said the now-retired 70-year-old.

Tamil Nadu state's Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said the movie made his heart heavy and announced measures to support tribespeople with access to welfare, drinking water and electricity.

But after an association representing the Vanniyar caste complained the film portrayed them in a bad light, a local politician offered 100,000 rupees ($1,300) to anyone who physically attacked Suriya.

Armed police were deployed to protect the star's home, amid an outpouring of support for him on social media.

The success of "Jai Bhim" highlights the rise of such films in Kollywood.

"Koozhangal", a Tamil film internationally known as "Pebbles" about an alcoholic father and his son, tackles issues of poverty and patriarchy. It has been selected as India's entry for best international feature at next year's Oscars.

'An awakening'

India has about 200 million Dalits -- once known as the "untouchables" and the lowest group in the caste system -- and more than 100 million also marginalised tribespeople.

But their life stories are rarely told and India's prolific film industry generally favours bankable action-packed song-and-dance extravaganzas.

When lower castes are depicted in Bollywood, they fall into familiar roles of oppressed characters in need of upper-caste saviours, said filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan, whose directorial debut "Masaan" won two awards at the 2015 Cannes film festival.

Ghaywan, a Dalit director in Bollywood, said that in contrast, Kollywood stories were "coming from authenticity".

"The characters are humanised. They are not just subjects of atrocity."

According to film historian S. Theodore Baskaran, right-wing politics under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have helped fuel such movies, along with growing political awareness and education among Dalits in Tamil Nadu.

"Jai Bhim" -- as well as box office hits by Dalit Tamil directors Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj -- are part of the "beginning of an awakening" in Indian cinema, Baskaran added.

'Telling my truth'

Such subjects are also gaining cinematic currency in other Indian languages, including Marathi spoken in Bollywood's home state Maharashtra.

Marathi filmmaker Nagraj Manjule released his first short "Pistulya" in 2009 about a low-caste boy who wants to go to school, and spoke about his Dalit background in interviews.

But both his own brother and a close upper-caste friend warned him to avoid the subject for fear of ostracism.

Some Dalits in the industry hide their caste, he added, even changing their surnames.

"I decided that no matter what happens, I have to tell about my reality, my truth," Manjule said.

His second feature, "Sairat", about young lovers from different castes, became Marathi cinema's highest-grossing movie when it was released in 2016.

"We've always been among the crowd, not on stage or the big screen," he added. "So when Dalits see someone from their community and background telling their stories, they feel proud."

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Victims to heroes: India's lower castes take cinematic centre stage

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Mumbai (AFP) - Facing systemic exploitation and discrimination, India's lowest castes have barely been acknowledged on the big screen. Now independent, mostly non-Hindi language filmmakers are challenging attitudes with powerful stories of injustice to give them a voice.

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Harvard adds the Case-biased Discrimination Protection. This will mostly affect many other areas.

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Harvard University is the latest U.S. school to add measures protecting caste-oppressed students following a push from graduate workers and a national organization.

Since March, South Asian graduate student organizers have tried to point out to the university's administration what they say is a real problem on campuses across the U.S.: discrimination based on the Hindu caste system.

Those born into lower castes, known as Dalits in India's deeply rooted hierarchies, have faced violence and oppression on the subcontinent for thousands of years. Though the system is now illegal in India, its impact is still far-reaching and can manifest themselves in a lack of social and economic mobility.

With the increase in South Asian immigration to the U.S. since the 1980s and '90s, the hierarchies have been carried overseas.

Twenty-five percent of Dalits in the U.S. report having faced verbal or physical assault, according to research by Equality Labs, an organization dedicated to ending white supremacy and casteism. One in 3 Dalit students also reported experiencing prejudice that affected their education, the study found.

Students trying to combat this on their campuses say they run into barriers in the process, particularly a sheer lack of knowledge among administrators.

Aparna Gopalan, a South Indian doctoral student at Harvard and a member of the Graduate Student Union, has been part of negotiations since March to add more protected classes to the union's contract. She says she found herself in board rooms filled with white administrators who had no foundational grasp of the caste system.

"They had no idea what caste was," Gopalan said. "I don't think they really understood. At one point, they asked, 'Why isn't caste just protected under nationality?' and I was flabbergasted. We were operating on a very basic level."

But after months of talks between the union and the administration, as well support from Equality Labs, the Graduate Student Union's contract was ratified this week and caste was added as the only new protected category.

Harvard declined to comment other than confirming the contract has been ratified.

Gopalan said that after the provision was approved, Dalit students began to come forward with their own experiences of discrimination, including by South Asian supervisors and instructors who would give their work less attention than that of upper caste students. Slurs and microaggressions from other students were also common.

"We need for every student covered under this contract to be aware that this is even in there," Gopalan said. "No one can come forward if they aren't explicitly aware that this is protected."

Slurs are just the beginning of what Dalit students across the country have experienced on campus, said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of Equality Labs. The longtime Dalit rights activist has advocated for young people facing sexual harassment, housing discrimination, diminished opportunities and physical assaults.

"This important step recognizes first that we, too, exist at Harvard and that our experiences matter," said Raj Muthu, a Dalit Harvard alum and a member of Equality Labs' coalition. "As an alumni, I have certainly witnessed expressions of disdain and hostility directed towards members of oppressed castes, students and faculty."

Dalits on campus might also feel like they don't belong in South Asian circles that are heavily pervaded with casteism or dominated by upper caste students.

"Overall as a student from a caste-oppressed community, there is a deep sense of alienation and not belonging in South Asian settings," he said. "It's a very isolating experience because as immigrants we try to seek refuge in our own ethnic communities."

But progress may be on the horizon. Through Equality Labs, Soundararajan has supported student bodies as they push their administrations to protect the caste-oppressed among them. Harvard is only the latest to add a measure, with the University of California, Davis, and Colby College both taking similar steps in the last few months.

"These aren't overnight wins," she said. "These are the results of many leaders going through the administrative process and building power toward caste equity."

She's sure that there are more to come.

"I see the change," she said. "There hasn't been a university that hasn't wanted to do this."

After Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020, Soundararajan said schools became much more open to inclusive language. With high profile institutions beginning to adopt caste protection into official documents, she thinks others will soon follow suit.

For Gopalan, Harvard's new contract with the union is the beginning of change, not the end.

"This is just the Grad Student Union," she said. "We would like every union to have it at Harvard. We would like the university itself, outside of just workers, to put it in their handbooks."

Those affected by caste oppression know it's a struggle that has long been invisible to non-South Asians in the U.S. Soundararajan hopes these university-level changes can be the first steps in a broader conversation.

"It makes sure that our civil rights are being respected," she said.

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Harvard adds caste bias protections for graduate student workers

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Harvard University is the latest U.S. school to add measures protecting caste-oppressed students following a push from graduate workers and a national organization. Since March, South Asian graduate student organizers have tried to point out to the university's administration what they say is a real problem on campuses across the U.S.: discrimination based on the Hindu caste system.