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Request to Cancel April 24 Talk by Thenmozhi Soundararajan: “Why Does Caste Matter at UCI?”
Vijendra Agarwal writes on an upcoming talk titled, “Why Does Caste Matter at UCI?”
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Vijendra Agarwal - Mon, 21, Apr 2025
- 01:06 EDT
- 33
Dear University of California Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman,
I write to express serious concern regarding the upcoming April 24 presentation by Ms. Thenmozhi Soundararajan (TS), Executive Director of Equality Labs, titled “Why Does Caste Matter at UCI?” The framing of this talk presumes a caste crisis at UCI and installs Ms. Soundararajan as an authoritative voice on the issue, which she is not. This is both misleading and potentially divisive.
Soundararajan is widely known for promoting an ideologically charged narrative that portrays Hindu Americans through a reductive and accusatory lens. Her advocacy repeatedly cites the 2018 Equality Labs caste survey—an instrument that has been discredited by scholars and community leaders alike for its serious methodological flaws, lack of peer review, and non-representative, self-selected sample. Yet this flawed document continues to be cited in legislative and academic spaces, leading to distorted conclusions and harmful stereotypes about Hindu communities in the diaspora.
As someone who has published extensively on caste, a series of articles in PGurus addressing the historic and political misuse of caste discourse, I find Ms. Soundararajan’s portrayal of Hindu identity to be not only inaccurate but damaging. She offers little academic rigor or cultural nuance, often ignoring the significant role British colonial policies played in ossifying caste divisions. Her rhetoric essentializes the Hindu tradition and dismisses the socioeconomic, regional, and spiritual diversity within it. My writings include:
https://www.pgurus.com/inequalities-in-the-mission-of-equality-labs/
https://www.pgurus.com/the-caste-jihad-from-the-ancient-to-the-present-part-12/ (The previous parts of this series can be accessed from this article)
Caste discrimination, wherever it occurs, must indeed be addressed—but with honesty, care, and scholarly depth. Unfortunately, Ms. Soundararajan's approach reflects more polarization than pedagogy, and more ideology than evidence. Her framing promotes an activist orthodoxy rather than an open, critical dialogue—alienating many Hindu students and families in the process.
UCI has a proud legacy of fostering inclusive, respectful academic inquiry. I urge the university to reconsider whether offering a platform to a speaker with such a divisive track record serves the values of your institution. Let us commit to addressing social injustice in ways that unify communities rather than deepen mistrust or marginalize faith-based identities.
Sincerely,
Vijendra Agarwal, Ph.D. (Physics)
Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Science, Engineering, and Technology
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