Caste discrimination banned in Brown University (first Ivy League)

Brown University has now explicitly prohibited caste discrimination, joining several other US colleges and universities in doing so. The university's governing body voted to include caste as a protected characteristic in its nondiscrimination policy, alongside race, religion, sex, and gender identity.

Brown University became the first Ivy League institution to include such safeguards for the campus community, which includes students, faculty, and staff. Though the caste system and caste-based discrimination are illegal in India and other South Asian countries, they persist in society.

With Indians now constituting one of the largest groups of new US immigrants, caste bias and discrimination are likely to become more prevalent in the United States.

In recent years, US technology firms with a high concentration of South Asian workers have been grappled with caste issues.