The University of Pennsylvania rebuked the Trump administration in a court filing on Tuesday for what it called “disturbing and unconstitutional” requests for a list of its Jewish employees.
“Singling out organizations and individuals for such an invasion of privacy based on their actual or presumed religious affiliation would be deeply troubling under any circumstances,” the university wrote in a filing in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “It is particularly chilling in light of the persecution that often has followed the compilation of lists of Jews in particular.”
The university’s response was endorsed in separate court filings by Rabbi Rick Fox, the executive director of MEOR Penn, Rabbi Gabriel F. Greenberg, the executive director of Penn Hillel, and Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, the co-executive director of Chabad at Penn.
Longstanding battle between the school and the EEOC
The university’s filing on Tuesday marked the latest blow in a battle between the school and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed a federal complaint against Penn in November for allegedly refusing to comply with a subpoena seeking contact information for Jewish employees on campus.
“Against a backdrop of rising antisemitism, the prospect of forcible, nonconsensual disclosure of personal information — including not only personal phone numbers and email addresses but also home addresses, which may provide individuals’ physical locations — poses a visceral threat to Jewish employees’ safety and security,” the university’s filing continued.
The EEOC first began investigating allegations of antisemitism at Penn in December 2023, the same month that the school’s president, Liz Magill, resigned after she was criticized for refusing to say that calls for the genocide of Jews violated the school’s code of conduct.
While the EEOC has not accused Penn of violating anti-discrimination laws, its petition said it was unable to complete its investigation without contacting Jewish employees about the university’s response to allegations of antisemitism.
Last week, several groups representing Jewish faculty and students at Penn also filed a motion to intervene in the EEOC’s case, writing that “compiling and turning over to the government ‘lists of Jews’ conjures a terrifying history.”
The EEOC has a January 27 deadline to respond to the school’s filing.