The University of Pennsylvania hopes a federal appeals court will overturn a ruling that requires it to give a list of all Jewish staffers to the federal government.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is pushing an antisemitism investigation at the school, which recently had its effort to block a subpoena rejected. Identifying Jews on staff will not deter them from practicing their religion, Philadelphia federal judge Jerry Pappert held.
UPenn wants that decision stayed until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit weighs in, court documents filed yesterday show.
“Whether the constitution protects against the compelled disclosure of religious information lies at the heart of the privacy claim Penn asserts in defense of the subpoena, and it is not a question squarely addressed by the Court’s decision,” lawyers for the school wrote.
“Penn’s position, however, is rooted in prevailing Supreme Court precedent. Religious identity and affiliation fall paradigmatically into the fundamental personal rights Supreme Court precedent holds are secured by ‘zones of privacy’ protected by the Due Process Clause.”
The group Public Citizen claims the investigation is a case of President Donald Trump pushing his conservative agenda on America’s schools, while the EEOC says it is simply looking into evidence of a hostile work environment.
Pappert refused to agree that the subpoena would prevent Jews from participating in events on campus and said a proposal to give them the contact information for the EEOC to reach out on their own is inadequate.
“The EEOC seeks to investigate the charge by contacting potential victims or witnesses of harassment and informing them of their rights,” Pappert wrote.
“Employees may refuse to participate in the investigation, but the EEOC needs the opportunity to talk to them directly to learn if they have evidence of discrimination.”
The EEOC charge cites public statements of antisemitism directed at Jewish faculty. Incidents include a swastika painted on an academic building, disturbing emails and pro-Hamas rallies.
Trump has issued an executive order that required executive agencies to submit reports on antisemitism at colleges since October 2023, threatening that federal funding will stop for schools that allow “illegal protests.”
UPenn is now in the federal government’s crosshairs. A student group in 2024 called “Penn Against the Occupation” on social media criticized 29 faculty members who traveled to Israel. The subpoena seeks information about those members of the UPenn staff, identities of anyone who reported the post and the school’s investigation into the post.
Jewish students and a group called Students Against Antisemitism sued UPenn in 2023. Their complaint was dismissed in June 2025, and they appealed rather than take the option of filing an amended lawsuit to make more specific accusations.
The suit said UPenn refused to punish slurs and chants including “F— the Jews” since 2023, when the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine began.
UPenn says it has received three antisemitism complaints out of 20,000 employees. It claimed some of the information sought by the EEOC is confidential and irrelevant.
