Penn and EEOC spar in court over subpoena seeking names of Jewish faculty and students

Maddie Hanna, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 10, 2026

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PHILADELPHIA — The University of Pennsylvania and the federal government squared off in court Tuesday over whether the school has to release information for an antisemitism investigation, including the names of employees who could have been exposed to alleged harassment.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Penn in November, saying it had failed to comply with a subpoena seeking information as part of an investigation into antisemitism launched two years earlier in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The commission, which is investigating the school’s treatment of staff, had demanded a list of employees in Penn’s Jewish Studies Program, rosters of members of all Jewish clubs and groups, and names of employees who filed antisemitism complaints.

Penn has refused to provide names, calling the subpoena unconstitutional. It said the request invoked “the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry.”

At Tuesday’s hearing, Debra Lawrence, a lawyer for the EEOC, called the subpoena a “garden-variety” request. The organization thought seeking names of individuals in groups “more likely to be aligned with Penn’s Jewish community” would be more efficient than asking for information on Penn’s 20,000 employees, Lawrence said.

“Obviously, that’s created somewhat of a backlash,” she said.

Seth Waxman, a lawyer for Penn, said the EEOC’s charge that Penn had created a hostile work environment wasn’t nearly specific enough to warrant the subpoena.

The hearing, at the federal courthouse in Philadelphia before U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, was ongoing Tuesday afternoon.