Penn must do more than just appeal

https://www.thedp.com/article/2026/04/penn-appeal-more-privacy-eeoc

Publish Date: 2026-04-06 00:13:00

On March 31, United States District Judge Gerald Pappert made a ruling that represents a continued and profound threat to the civil liberties of the Jewish community here at Penn: The University must comply with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s subpoena, which seeks information on Jewish students, faculty, and community members. At the same time, he provided a partial restriction of the subpoena, declaring that the University no longer has to disclose any individual’s affiliation with specific organizations, nor must it provide information about three Jewish-affiliated groups on campus. However, this decision ultimately fails to address the key threat to privacy that the EEOC’s demand fundamentally poses and must continue to be challenged.

In his decision, Pappert argued that the EEOC needs to be able to directly contact Jewish employees to learn if they have evidence of discrimination. Defenders of the subpoena have similarly argued that it is not unusual for federal investigators to request employee identities when probing workplace discrimination. In other words, the charge is intended to be a routine investigative procedure. However, it’s important to recognize that the procedural normalcy of the demand does not resolve its constitutional character. Routine or not, compelling a university to compile and surrender a list of individuals sorted by religion — without their consent — is a First Amendment violation hiding in plain administrative sight.

The dangers of such a violation are not merely hypothetical. As five Penn-affiliated Jewish organizations have already argued, the nonconsensual disclosure of private information implicates serious First Amendment violations. Specifically under attack is the freedom of association: the right of individuals to join religious and civic organizations without that membership being involuntarily disclosed to the…

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