PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal judge will hear arguments this week in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit to force the University of Pennsylvania to provide lists of Jewish faculty and staff.
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.
Ari Shapell with the ACLU, which has intervened in the case, 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.”
Judge Gerald Pappert is scheduled to hear the case on Tuesday.