Our Mission
The National Academic Coalition for Caste Equity (NACCE) is a nationwide collective of students, staff, faculty, and union members committed to creating an equitable higher education environment free from caste discrimination. We advocate for policies, practices, and institutional change that recognize caste-based harm, protect marginalized communities, and foster inclusive campus spaces.
Who We Are
NACCE brings together changemakers from across public and private colleges and universities. Our coalition includes student organizers, faculty scholars, administrative leaders, staff advocates, and union representatives. We believe that universities play a pivotal role in shaping social justice, and that higher education institutions must lead in confronting caste inequities.
We partner with campus communities, advocacy groups, and grassroots organizations to build awareness, generate research, and mobilize resources. Through education, convenings, and direct advocacy, we seek to advance institutional accountability and structural transformation.
What We Do
- Policy Advocacy: We push for anti-discrimination policies that explicitly include caste as a protected category and develop guidelines for enforcement.
- Education & Training: We offer workshops, webinars, and educational tools to help campus communities understand caste, its manifestations, and how to respond.
- Community Building: We foster networks of support across campuses so faculty, staff, and students can share best practices, challenges, and strategies.
- Research & Documentation: We collect data, publish reports, and disseminate scholarship that highlights caste-based discrimination in academia.
- Conferences & Convenings: We host national and regional gatherings to bring together voices across higher education, feature scholarship, and strategize collective action.
Our Partnerships
We work in close collaboration with Equality Labs, a Dalit civil rights organization focused on ending caste apartheid and challenging intersections of caste, gender, race, and religion. Equality Labs contributes research, community engagement, and advocacy leadership to our shared struggle.
We also partner with universities, student groups, faculty associations, and labor unions to expand our reach and impact.
Why It Matters
Caste-based discrimination is a deeply rooted system of social stratification that has tangible consequences in educational contexts—micros aggression, exclusion, lack of representation, and institutional neglect. Without deliberate attention, caste discrimination often remains invisible or unacknowledged within anti-discrimination frameworks.
By centering caste in conversations about equity and justice in academia, NACCE seeks to shift institutional culture and policy so that all members of campus communities—regardless of background—can thrive and belong.
Our History
NACCE emerged from justice movements within academia and broader South Asian diaspora organizing. As conversations about caste gained visibility in the U.S., higher education institutions became key sites of contestation and change. From these efforts, NACCE formed as a collective to unify voices and strengthen institutional leverage.
Over time, several colleges and universities—such as Brandeis University, Colby College, the University of California, Davis, and the California State University system—have added caste as a protected class in their anti-discrimination policies. NACCE continues to support ongoing implementation, accountability, and expansion of such protections.
Get Involved
- Join Us — Become part of our network: faculty, staff, students, and allies are welcome.
- Stay Updated — Subscribe to our mailing list to receive news, resources, and event announcements.
- Partner — If you’re a campus group, union, or organization interested in collaborating, let’s connect.
- Support — Your donations and support help us sustain programming, research, and outreach.
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
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