The University of Pennsylvania was ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday to relinquish official records of campus Jewish employees as part of a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation of antisemitism.
The federal probe stems from reported incidents of antisemitic discrimination at the Ivy League university in Philadelphia, including the painting of a Nazi swastika on a campus building, “hateful graffiti” at a college fraternity, reports of people shouting antisemitic obscenities, destroying property at a Jewish student life center, and incidents that occurred on campus during Gaza protests in recent years.
The University of Pennsylvania was accused in 2023 by the EEOC of having a workplace that was “replete with antisemitism.” U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert presided over the case in early March and heard claims that the university “subjected its Jewish faculty and employees to an illegal hostile work environment based on national origin, religion, or race,” reported the Associated Press.
The order to turn over the names of Jewish staff members was deemed necessary by Pappert as part of the investigation. Employees are permitted to decline participation in the investigation, Pappert said, but also stated that the EEOC “needs the opportunity to talk to them directly to learn if they have evidence of discrimination.” Penn isn’t required to divulge information about the university’s Jewish groups or organizations or any employee’s affiliation with the groups, Pappert said.
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The University of Pennsylvania criticized the court decision and indicated it planned to appeal the ruling. A university spokesperson told the Associated Press that the academic institution had “taken multiple steps to prevent and address these despicable events.” It categorized the order to provide information about Jewish employees as an infringement of its constitutional rights, while declaring it did not have a list of employees that contained their religious affiliation.
“While we acknowledge the important role of the EEOC to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees,” read the official statement by Penn. “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.”
Pappert set May 1 as a deadline for the university to comply with his order.