Overview
- Four members of Congress sent a letter asking Rutgers University to disassociate its branding from the October 27 event hosted by the Center for Security, Race and Rights.
- The lawmakers—Suhas Subramanyam, Shri Thanedar, Sanford Bishop, and Rich McCormick—did not seek cancellation but urged steps to ensure Hindu students feel safe expressing their identity.
- The CSRR event will launch a report that describes Hindutva as a political and ethnonationalist ideology distinct from Hinduism, which organizers say is the focus of their inquiry.
- Hindu-American groups including CoHNA and HAF condemned the event and report as biased, pressed for removal of Rutgers logos, and reported thousands of constituent messages to the university.
- As of October 25, Rutgers had not issued a detailed public response, though prior statements have emphasized that views expressed by centers or faculty do not represent the institution, with community concerns heightened by recent temple vandalism and online hate reports.