Earlier this month, CoHNA (the Coalition of Hindus of North America) announced via its official social media platform that an American university had achieved a historic feat to combat rising Hinduphobia.

As per CoHNA’s news flash, University of California, Berkeley (aka UC Berkeley) has become the first ever US university to recognise Hindu Heritage Month, which is celebration in October, primarily in America and Canada. Some regions also extend the celebration of Hindu culture and its elements to the month of November.

UC Berkeley becomes 1st US university to recognise Hindu Heritage Month

“After a year of perseverance, advocacy and negotiation, UC Berkeley’s Student Senate has approved the passage of the new Hindu Heritage Month proclamation, making it the FIRST EVER US university to recognize Hindu Heritage Month!” CoHNA wrote in a post on X.

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CoHNA further praised the university for the decision, which highlighted its “acknowledgement of the vandalism attacks on our temples and rising Hinduphobia.”

Additionally, the Hindu community patted their CoHNA Youth Action Network (CYAN) team at Berkeley along with Hindu YUVA and students leaders Aryan Shinde and Arya Kulkarni for standing by the cause. “The CYAN UC Berkeley chapter has done us proud in showing what Hindu advocacy on campus can look like,” CoHNA added in its X statement.

As per a screenshot of the bill database shared by CoHNA, this particular legislation went by the title, “SR 2025/2026-030: Recognition of Hindu Heritage Month in October.’ The picture also confirmed that its final status stood as ‘Passed,’ listing it date of final action as December 3, 2025.

CoHNA Youth Action Network (CYAN), in turn, originally shared the piece of news in a press release dated December 7, 2025.

Offering an update on Hindu Heritage Month at UC Berkeley, the group said therein, “Nine months after the ASUC Senate first voted to kill Hindu Heritage Month, we can now announce the passage of a new Hindu Heritage Month proclamation.”

Detailing what the proclamation entailed, CYAN noted, “While the new proclamation is by no means perfect, we believe that it signals a positive step in improving Hindu representation within student government.”

Listing its three-point breakdown, CYAN revealed that the new proclamation on the part of the ASUC Senate recognises the following:

  • Formal recognition of the use of term Hinduphobia, and therefore the multiple acts of targeted attacks on Hindu temples in the Bay Area community
  • Acknowledgement of Sanatana Dharma and its foundations as a decolonial understanding of the Persian exonym commonly referred to as “Hinduism”
  • Recognition of the non-existence of a Hindu caucus uniquely dedicated to representing Hindu students and their interest within student government, unlike other unions, caucuses and coalitions representing other religious groups on campus
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Row broke out in May over UC Berkeley Hindu Heritage Month discussions

The negotiations surrounding the university’s consideration of Hindu Heritage Month particularly turned inflammatory in May of this year. The backlash followed after the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) at UC Berkeley voted against the resolution to recognise October as Hindu Heritage Month.

The previous rejection was majorly fuelled by several student senators’ fear that the legislation would be used to “legitimised Hindu nationalist ideology.”

However, CoHNA noted in its December press release that the original proclamation and the one passed earlier this month showed no changes in substances or framing. Through its statement, the Hindu coalition underscored “the ASUC’s acknowledgement that there were no references to Hindu Nationalism in the original proclamation.”

Back in May, CYAN Berkeley hit back against the accusations, addressing the case in an Instagram statement. “The accusation of “Hindu nationalism” is harmful to our community because it conflates Hinduism with politics in India—despite the proclamation being inspired by a Caribbean Hindu student with NO ties to India,” it added.