A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the University of Pennsylvania must turn over lists of Jewish employees as part of the Trump administration’s investigation into antisemitism on its campus.
The ruling marked a significant blow to the school and its Jewish leadership, who submitted court filings opposing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s requests for information on its Jewish employees in January. The EEOC’s subpoena stemmed from a 2023 probe into Penn’s handling of antisemitism complaints from Jewish employees.
In a 32-page ruling, US District Judge Gerald J. Pappert dismissed arguments by Penn and the leaders of Jewish groups on campus who said in separate filings that the Trump administration’s requests were “disturbing and unconstitutional.”
“Penn and other groups and associations the Court permitted to intervene significantly raised the dispute’s temperature by impliedly and even expressly comparing the EEOC’s efforts to protect Jewish employees from antisemitism to the Holocaust and the Nazis’ compilation of ‘lists of Jews,’” Pappert wrote. “Such allegations are unfortunate and inappropriate.”
While Pappert wrote that Penn does not have to provide information to the EEOC about which Jewish organization each individual is affiliated with, he ordered that the school comply with the EEOC’s subpoena by May 1.
Penn vows to appeal ruling
A Penn spokesperson said in a statement that the school would appeal the ruling, adding that the school remains “committed to confronting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
“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 statement read. “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. The University does not maintain employee lists by religion.”
The school’s Hillel chapter, which was among the Jewish groups on campus to submit a court filing opposing the EEOC’s subpoena, wrote in a statement posted to Instagram that it was “deeply concerned by the recent court ruling” and urged the school to appeal it.
“Compelled government lists of Jewish individuals carry a dark historic resonance,” the statement read. “Subjecting faculty to such disclosures without their consent undermines the very civil rights these investigations seek to uphold.”
Request had 'understandable purpose'
“Though ineptly worded, the request had an understandable purpose, to obtain in a narrowly tailored way, as opposed to seeking information on all university employees, information on individuals in Penn’s Jewish community who could have experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the workplace,” Pappert wrote.
The University of Pennsylvania and the leadership of the campus’s Chabad, Hillel, and MEOR chapters did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The leaders of each Jewish group had joined Penn in opposing the Trump administration’s request.
The ruling comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its prosecution of antisemitism allegations at top schools across the country in recent weeks, including separate federal discrimination lawsuits at Harvard University and UCLA.