Our most recent contract with the Rutgers administration established a grievance procedure for victims of caste discrimination and created a joint University Task Force on Caste Discrimination consider any needed policy changes for all members of the Rutgers Community. Particularly, this joint Task Force would “examine issues of caste discrimination impacting students and members of negotiations units,” “examine the inclusion of ‘caste’ as a protected category in the University’s policies on prohibited discrimination and harassment,” and “identify best practices to address caste discrimination”. This joint Task Force was co-chaired by an appointee from our union and one from management, with one additional member appointed from our union and six from management.
This Task Force issued its final report in August 2024 defining caste as “an inherited and immutable social hierarchy with uneven power relations between groups” that exists in many communities worldwide. The Task Force found that “caste-based discrimination is a problem at Rutgers that limits the potential and opportunities of some in our university community” and that “this situation is inconsistent with Rutgers commitment to equity and inclusion”; and the Task Force identified specific cases of caste-based discrimination experienced by faculty and students on multiple Rutgers campuses.
We, the Executive Council of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, endorse the findings of the University Task Force on Caste Discrimination and recommend that the administration immediately adopt its four major recommendations:
- Rutgers should add caste as a stand-alone category to its list of protected categories.
- The Rutgers University administration should develop community-wide communications declaring that caste-based discrimination is not tolerated at Rutgers University and should clarify the existing mechanisms for reporting and seeking resolution.
- Rutgers should foster short-term and long-term educational opportunities–in both DEI and academic programming–to create awareness and change about caste on campus.
- Rutgers should gather quantitative and qualitative data about how caste and caste-based discrimination negatively impact the lives of students, staff, and faculty.