"We shall overcome and success will be ours in the future. The future belongs to us."
Savitribai Phule
About Us
The National Academic Coalition for Caste Equity (NACCE) brings together students, staff, faculty, and unions across North America to advocate for Caste equity in higher education institutions.
As the anti-Caste civil rights movement grows, colleges and universities have become leading sites of social change, with higher education institutions (i.e., Brandeis University, Colby College, University of California Davis, California State University, Carleton University, etc.) explicitly adding Caste as a protected category to their anti-discrimination policies.
In collaboration with student, staff, faculty, and union leaders across both public and private higher education institutions, the National Academic Coalition for Caste Equity has emerged as a collective with the mission to connect, build community with, and mobilize resources to support students, staff, faculty, and union members advocating for Caste equitable policies in higher education institutions.
The Movement
2020
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Brandeis University becomes the first US higher education institution to add caste as a protected characteristic
2021
COLBY COLLEGE
Colby College becomes the second US educational institution to add caste to its nondiscrimination policy
UC DAVIS
UC Davis becomes the first public university in the US to designate caste as a protected category
UC BERKELEY
UC Berkeley's ASUC Senate unanimously approves a resolution urging campus administration to address caste discrimination
CARLETON UNIVERSITY
Carleton University becomes the first Canadian higher education institution to add caste protections
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Harvard University adds protections for caste-oppressed Graduate Student Workers
2022
UC SAN DIEGO
UC San Diego's Ethnic Studies Department becomes the first Ethnic Studies Department to implement caste protections
CAL STATE UNIVERSITY
The CSU system protects students across its 23 campuses on the basis of caste
CA FACULTY ASSOCIATION
CFA attains a new contract with caste protections for its 29,000+ member union
SCRIPPS COLLEGE
Scripps College implements a caste protection policy
COLORADO COLLEGE
Colorado College includes caste in its discrimination policy
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota adds caste to its diversity, equity, and inclusion criteria
BROWN UNIVERSITY
Brown University becomes the first Ivy League institution to designate caste as a protected category
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
Georgetown University creates an interpretive guidance that includes caste in its protected bases
2023
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Harvard University expands caste protections, building off of the Harvard Graduate Student Union