A federal judge on Tuesday ruled the University of Pennsylvania must comply with a subpoena from the Trump administration to turn over a list of Jewish employees on campus.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert ruled that the government’s request for, among other things, university organizations “related to the Jewish religion” and contact information for employees in those groups was valid, despite initially being “ineptly worded.”
The subpoena followed allegations by U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Chair Andrea Lucas in December 2023 — two months after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when debates about both the war and antisemitism became lightning rods on college campuses — that the university had a pattern of harassing its Jewish employees in violation of the Civil Rights Act and failing to prevent harassment from escalating. That same month, the university’s former president, Liz Magill, resigned after being grilled by members of Congress on allegations of antisemitism at the school, colloquially known as Penn.
As part of the probe, and after Penn refused to turn over the requested information, the EEOC subpoenaed the university last year. Lawyers for the government argued officials were seeking contact information for possible victims of the alleged harassment by requesting names of employees who reported antisemitic harassment, who were involved with Jewish-related campus organizations and who were part of the Jewish Studies Program, among other criteria.
The university balked at that request, even after the EEOC modified it to remove references to the specific organizations employees are affiliated with. Lawyers for the university argued that it constituted an unnecessary invasion of privacy and could endanger employees if the information became public.
But Pappert, an Obama appointee, wrote in the 32-page ruling Tuesday that the request “had an understandable purpose” in collecting narrow information relevant to people who may have been subjected to, or witnessed, antisemitism at the university. He also blasted the school’s comparisons of the request to information gathered in Nazi Germany as “unfortunate and inappropriate.”
Pappert gave the university until May 1 to comply with the subpoena, noting that Penn does not need to reveal relevant employees’ affiliations with specific Jewish organizations, in line with the EEOC’s modified request.
In a statement provided to MS NOW, a spokesperson for Penn said its lawyers will appeal the decision, adding that the university “does not maintain employee lists by religion.”
“While we acknowledge the important role of the EEOC to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to believe that requiring Penn to create lists of Jewish faculty and staff, and to provide personal contact information, raises serious privacy and First Amendment concerns.”
A spokesperson for the EEOC did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
The legal battle is one of several unfolding between the Trump administration and universities centered on allegations of antisemitism. The Department of Justice filed a new lawsuit against Harvard this month, alleging antisemitism. Last year, the Department of Education launched antisemitism investigations into at least 60 universities.
Penn also announced a settlement with the Education Department last summer in which it agreed to limit the participation of trans athletes. As a result, the Trump administration released $175 million in federal funding to the university it previously froze.
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