The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday condemned Trump administration investigators for seeking records about Jewish employees, saying in a federal court filing that the request was “disconcerting.”
The university and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have been at odds for months over an investigation into antisemitism at Penn.
The tensions roared into public view in November, when the Trump administration sued the university because it had “refused to comply” with a subpoena that sought information about employees who brought complaints about antisemitic discrimination and those who are members of Jewish groups on campus, among other people.
The demand prompted a campus uproar, and in a blistering response on Tuesday, Penn described the request as an “extraordinary and unconstitutional demand.”
“The E.E.O.C. insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university said in a filing in Federal District Court in Philadelphia. “The government’s demand implicates Penn’s substantial interest in protecting its employees’ privacy, safety and First Amendment rights.”
Penn declined to comment beyond its 163-page filing on Tuesday. In its filing, the university said that the E.E.O.C.’s request had “alarmed” members of the university’s Jewish community.
The E.E.O.C., which previously said it was seeking information that could be relevant to its “investigation of potential unlawful employment practices, namely religious, national origin and race-based harassment,” did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the White House.
Last year, Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration would “always aggressively enforce the law” and that the university “should comply with the straightforward subpoena and demonstrate their commitment to safeguarding their students.”
In its submission on Tuesday, Penn said it had told the commission in September that it was willing to send notices to all employees “informing them of the agency’s desire to hear about any experiences of antisemitism, together with instructions about how to contact the E.E.O.C. directly.” Within hours, according to the court filing, the E.E.O.C. told Penn it would seek to enforce its subpoena.
The commission has a Jan. 27 deadline to respond to Penn’s filing.
Alan Blinder is a national correspondent for The Times, covering education.
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