PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal judge has ordered the University of Pennsylvania to turn over lists of Jewish staff and students to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Penn and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the university’s Jewish staff in the case, both say they will appeal.
Judge Gerald Pappert gave Penn until May 1 to turn over the names and personal contact information for faculty in the Jewish studies program and members of Jewish campus organizations.
Pappert dismissed most of the constitutional arguments Penn and the ACLU raised as unfounded. Though he acknowledged concerns by two Jewish organizations that turning over the lists would intimidate members and discourage their participation in Jewish life on campus, Pappert wrote the concerns “do not suffice to outweigh the EEOC’s interest in enforcing the subpoena.”
The EEOC said it needs the information to find witnesses for its investigation into a self-generated complaint about antisemitism at Penn.
Pappert’s ruling scolded Penn and the ACLU for “raising the dispute’s temperature by impliedly and even expressly comparing the EEOC’s efforts to protect Jewish employees from antisemitism to the Holocaust and the Nazis’ compilation “lists of Jews.”
“Such allegations,” he wrote, “are unfortunate and inappropriate.”
His order did narrow the subpoena somewhat, allowing that Penn need neither reveal any employee’s affiliation with a specific Jewish-related organization, nor provide information regarding three Jewish campus groups: MEOR, Penn Hillel and the Chabad Lubavitch House.
Still, the ACLU said in an emailed statement, “the resulting list will identify Jewish employees, leaving us to maintain profound concerns about the risks of such a registry being built and susceptible to future misuse or weaponization if it were to end up in the wrong hands. The historical dangers of compiling lists based on religious affiliation are well documented, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting our clients’ constitutional rights to anonymous association, among other fundamental freedoms at stake.”
Penn issued a statement saying, “While we acknowledge the important role of the EEOC to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees. 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.”
The EEOC declined to comment.
The judge’s ruling was not a surprise. During arguments in the case earlier this month, he interrupted, disputed and even mocked the attorneys from Penn and the ACLU.
Penn and the ACLU say they will appeal the ruling
