San Jose, CA — February 13, 2025: CYAN (CoHNA Youth Action Network), the youth initiative of the Coalition of Hindus of North America, condemns the violent assault near MacQuarrie Hall at San Jose State University and calls for a swift, accountable investigation.

According to reports, on February 7 a visibly observant Sikh student was forced to the ground by multiple assailants who tore off his turban. Witnesses also indicate the attackers weaponized the word “Hindu” as a slur during the attack, signaling targeted bias and intimidation.

This incident constitutes both an assault on a Sikh student’s religious identity and a manifestation of Hinduphobia. Accurately naming both dimensions is essential for prevention, accountability, and the safety of all students.

Evidence suggests this should not be viewed as an isolated case. Between December 2023 and March 2025, four Hindu temples in California were vandalized, including the state’s largest Hindu temple and two sites in the Bay Area. The targeting of sacred spaces underscores a climate in which rhetoric and harassment can escalate into physical attacks.

State-level data are equally troubling. The California Civil Rights Department’s 2024 statewide anti-hate hotline report shows that nearly a quarter of reported religion-based hate incidents targeted Hindus (anti-Jewish 36.9%, anti-Hindu 23.3%, anti-Muslim 14.6%). California’s 2025 hate-crime report also indicates anti-Hindu incidents have risen for four consecutive years. Taken together, these indicators place the SJSU assault within an identifiable risk environment rather than as an aberration.

CYAN expresses unequivocal solidarity with the Sikh student and the Sikh community on campus, while calling equal attention to the explicitly Hinduphobic language used by the perpetrators. Acknowledging this element is indispensable to any serious campus risk assessment and to building interventions that protect all students.

Reports that the assailants were non-students raise material concerns about access control and visitor screening on campus—an issue that directly affects Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist students who can be readily identified by articles of faith or cultural markers.

Within prevailing compliance frameworks, universities are obligated to ensure nondiscriminatory educational environments (e.g., Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and to maintain robust safety communications where applicable under the Clery Act. Effective responses require a blend of civil-rights protections, crime-prevention practices, and culturally competent support.

First, leadership should explicitly acknowledge and condemn Hinduphobia in this incident, including the use of “Hindu” as a slur, while also recognizing the assault’s anti-Sikh dimension. Precise naming of bias helps investigators, student-affairs professionals, and campus police align response protocols with the facts.

Second, the university should engage directly with Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist student organizations to co-design trauma-informed support. Best practices include rapid-access counseling, confidential reporting options, culturally literate chaplaincy or community liaisons, and support spaces that respect religious articles such as turbans, tilak, rudraksha, and malas.

Third, prevention should include evidence-based security enhancements: layered access control at sensitive perimeters, visitor management and badging for events and after-hours access, expanded blue-light and CCTV coverage tied to privacy-respecting governance, increased lighting and visibility near MacQuarrie Hall, and patrol patterns informed by Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).

Fourth, campus-wide Hindu and Sikh awareness programming should move beyond generic DEI modules to address concrete bias scenarios affecting dharmic communities, including stereotyping, harassment of visible religious symbols, and the misuse of geopolitical narratives to justify intimidation.

Fifth, a transparent incident-reporting taxonomy should disaggregate data by religion while capturing multi-target incidents. A public-facing dashboard with safeguards for privacy can track case status, response time, and outcomes to build trust without compromising investigations.

Sixth, cross-functional coordination—student affairs, campus police, legal counsel, disability and counseling services, and external law enforcement—should be formalized through protocols and tabletop exercises that rehearse real-world scenarios relevant to dharmic students.

Seventh, faculty and staff training should incorporate case studies on Hinduphobia and anti-Sikh bias. Concise microlearning modules can improve early identification, appropriate referrals, and bystander intervention without overburdening instructional time.

Eighth, community partnerships with local Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu temples, and interfaith councils can strengthen cultural competency, create survivor-centered referral networks, and ensure that restorative campus dialogues are anchored in lived experience rather than in stereotypes.

Ninth, policies should explicitly protect the wearing of religious head coverings, tilak, symbols, and prayer beads in all academic and co-curricular contexts. Clear anti-harassment language, communicated at orientation and in syllabi templates, can deter misconduct and make recourse pathways visible.

Across these measures, measurable indicators—incident-to-reporting intervals, time-to-services, repeat-incident rates by location and time of day, and student climate surveys disaggregated by religion—allow institutions to evaluate whether interventions are reducing harm for dharmic communities.

The emotional and educational stakes are substantial. When articles of faith such as the Sikh turban are targeted or when “Hindu” is weaponized as a slur, affected students often report hypervigilance, social withdrawal, and reduced classroom participation. Comprehensive support and credible accountability help restore a sense of belonging and academic focus.

CYAN therefore reiterates three immediate priorities at San Jose State University: acknowledge and condemn Hinduphobia in the incident; engage Hindu student groups and offer trauma-informed services to all affected dharmic students; and implement Hindu and Sikh awareness programming alongside strengthened protections for Hindu and Sikh students campus-wide.

Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist students deserve the same protection, dignity, and inclusion guaranteed to every community on campus. Naming bias accurately, addressing security gaps decisively, and investing in culturally competent education are indispensable steps toward a campus where all dharmic traditions can thrive in safety and mutual respect.

Inspired by this post on CoHNA.