A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration can compel the University of Pennsylvania to provide contact information for Jewish faculty and staff as part of a federal antisemitism investigation.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has authority to seek the information, rejecting constitutional challenges raised by the university.
"For their legal arguments, respondents contend the charge of discrimination is invalid and the subpoena violates the United States Constitution in various ways," Pappert wrote. "But the charge is valid and the constitutional claims are easily dispensed with."
Pappert said the subpoena was narrowly tailored to identify Jewish employees who may have witnessed or experienced antisemitism in the workplace.
He also addressed arguments from the university and its supporters comparing the request to actions taken by Nazi Germany.
Pappert wrote that those comparisons "significantly raised the dispute's temperature" and called them "unfortunate and inappropriate."
"Comparing the EEOC's investigation into antisemitism at Penn with Nazi Germany is counterproductive," he said, noting that the university's counsel later sought to walk back the analogy.
The court ordered Penn to comply by May 1 but said it does not need to disclose affiliations with specific Jewish organizations.
The university said it plans to appeal, citing privacy and First Amendment concerns.
"While we acknowledge the important role of the EEOC to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees," Penn said in a statement. "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."
Penn also said it does not maintain employee lists by religion.
The ruling stems from a federal investigation into allegations that antisemitic harassment occurred on campus and that the university failed to adequately address it.
"The EEOC remains steadfast in its commitment to [combating] workplace antisemitism and seeks to identify employees who may have experienced antisemitic harassment," EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said when the agency moved to enforce the subpoena last fall.
The EEOC argued that Penn's refusal to provide information on potential witnesses and victims hindered its ability to determine whether a hostile work environment existed.
Pappert upheld the subpoena while limiting some requests, including those tied to specific Jewish-affiliated groups.
He said federal investigators must be able to directly contact individuals to assess whether discrimination occurred.
The ruling allows employees to decline to participate in interviews but still requires the university to provide contact information.
Jim Mishler ✉
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