{"id":405435,"date":"2026-01-13T23:01:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405435\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T23:01:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T23:01:06","slug":"upenn-faculty-condemn-trump-administrations-demand-for-lists-of-jews-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/405435\/","title":{"rendered":"UPenn faculty condemn Trump administration\u2019s demand for \u2018lists of Jews\u2019 | Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several faculty groups have denounced the Trump administration<\/a>\u2019s efforts to obtain information about Jewish professors, staff and students at the University of Pennsylvania \u2013 including personal emails, phone numbers and home addresses \u2013 as government abuse with \u201cominous historical overtones\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is demanding the university turn over names and personal information about Jewish members of the Penn community as part of the administration\u2019s stated goal to combat antisemitism on campuses. But some Jewish faculty and staff have condemned the government\u2019s demand as \u201ca visceral threat to the safety of those who would find themselves identified because compiling and turning over to the government \u2018lists of Jews\u2019 conjures a terrifying history\u201d, according to a press release put out by the groups\u2019 lawyers.<\/p>\n

The EEOC sued<\/a> Penn in November over the university\u2019s refusal to fully comply with its demands. On Tuesday, the American Association of University Professors\u2019 national and Penn chapters, the university\u2019s Jewish Law Students Association and its Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty, and the American Academy of Jewish Research filed a motion in federal court to intervene in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese requests would require Penn to create and turn over a centralized registry of Jewish students, faculty, and staff \u2013 a profoundly invasive and dangerous demand that intrudes deeply into the freedoms of association, religion, speech, and privacy enshrined in the First Amendment,\u201d the groups argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are entering territory that should shock every single one of us,\u201d said Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund on a press call. The fund is representing the faculty groups along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania<\/a> and the firm Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin and Schiller. \u201cThat kind of information \u2013 however purportedly benign the excuses given for it \u2013 can be put to the most dangerous misuse. This is an abuse of government power that drags us back to some of the darkest chapters in our history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EEOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The University of Pennsylvania was among dozens<\/a> of US universities to come under federal investigation over alleged antisemitism in the aftermath of the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel\u2019s subsequent war in Gaza. In response, the university established a taskforce to study antisemitism, implemented a series of measures and shared hundreds of pages of documents to comply with government demands.<\/p>\n

But the university refused to comply with the EEOC\u2019s July subpoena for personal information of Jewish faculty, students and staff, or those affiliated with Jewish organizations who had not given their consent, as well as the names of individuals who had participated in confidential listening sessions or received a survey by the university\u2019s antisemitism taskforce. A university spokesperson<\/a> said in November that \u201cviolating their privacy and trust is antithetical to ensuring Penn\u2019s Jewish community feels protected and safe\u201d. Instead, the university offered to inform all its employees of the EEOC investigation, inviting those interested to contact the agency directly.<\/p>\n

But that was not enough for the commission, which brought the university to court to seek to enforce the subpoena.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EEOC remains steadfast in its commitment to combatting workplace antisemitism and seeks to identify employees who may have experienced antisemitic harassment. Unfortunately, the employer continues to refuse to identify members of its workforce who may have been subjected to this unlawful conduct,\u201d the EEOC chair, Andrea Lucas, said in a statement at the time. \u201cAn employer\u2019s obstruction of efforts to identify witnesses and victims undermines the EEOC\u2019s ability to investigate harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EEOC request prompted widespread alarm and condemnation among Jewish faculty, and earned rebukes from the university\u2019s Hillel<\/a> and other Jewish groups.<\/p>\n

Steven Weitzman, a professor with Penn\u2019s religious studies department who also served on the university\u2019s antisemitism taskforce, said that the mere request for such lists \u201cinstills a sense of vulnerability among Jews\u201d and that the government cannot guarantee that the information it collects won\u2019t fall \u201cinto the wrong hands or have unintended consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of what sets off alarm bells for people like me is a history of people using Jewish lists against Jews,\u201d he said . \u201cThe Nazi campaign against Jews depended on institutions like universities handing over information about their Jewish members to the authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Jewish study scholars, we know well the dangers of collecting such information,\u201d said Beth Wenger, who teaches Jewish history at Penn.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time the EEOC\u2019s efforts to fight antisemitism have caused alarm among Jewish faculty. Last spring, the commission texted the personal phones<\/a> of employees of Barnard College, the women\u2019s school affiliated with Columbia University, linking to a survey that asked respondents whether they identified as Jewish or Israeli.<\/p>\n