Published on March 9 | Updated on March 10
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The University of Pennsylvania asked a federal court on Tuesday to deny a request by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for a subpoena seeking a list of Jewish staff. However, the judge seemed deeply skeptical of Penn's arguments for not providing the information.
The EEOC has been trying to compel Penn to turn over the names and personal information of Jewish faculty, members of Jewish clubs and organizations, and employees in the Jewish studies program, among other things. The commission said it needs the lists for its investigation of antisemitism at Penn, which was launched without a specific complaint.
Penn said it has cooperated with the investigation but draws the line at disclosures about Jewish staff.
The Jewish staff itself is also fighting the request. They intervened in the suit, represented by the ACLU. "There is real fear in the community about this information being disclosed," said ACLU legal affairs director Vic Walczak.
"Forcing the university to turn over private contact information and who belongs to which group, especially given the history of attacks on Jewish people, is simply something that we can't abide."
Judge Gerald Pappert interrupted, disputed and even mocked attorneys for Penn and the ACLU, who argued that the subpoena the EEOC has sought is overly broad, burdensome and violates constitutional rights to privacy, freedom of association and of religion.
He lamented "unfortunate, over the top allegations against the EEOC," apparently considering references to the history of the persecution of Jews to be a slight against the commission. Pappert also questioned whether the information was really so sensitive and accused the defendants of making political rather than legal arguments.
ACLU attorney Ari Shapell previously said the EEOC request interferes with a host of constitutional rights.
"The right to associate with people, the right to speech, the right to academic freedom, to free exercise of religion, to equal protection," he said. "History shows that the effort to compile lists of people that are Jewish leads to catastrophe for Jewish people and Jewish communities."
Pappert did not indicate when he might rule on the matter.
