Activist holds a sign at an antisemitism rally in San Francisco.
PHILADELPHIA – The federal government has agreed to stop collecting names of Jewish employees at the University of Pennsylvania during an investigation into possible antisemitism at the school.
UPenn went to federal court to fight a subpoena from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission but was dealt a setback when Judge Jerry Pappert ruled against it earlier this year, leading to an appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Documents filed there July 23 show an agreement in which the EEOC “will not take any further measures to enforce the subpoena” in exchange for UPenn dropping its appeal. Pappert had stayed enforcement of his order to disclose a list pending a Third Circuit ruling.
“With the support of many members of the community who have stood with Penn throughout, the University has been able to protect its employees’ rights and none of the subpoenaed personal contact information was disclosed,” a statement from the school says.
“Penn remains committed to fighting antisemitism and all other forms of discrimination, to ensure everyone it serves can learn, work, and thrive.”
The EEOC charge cites public statements of antisemitism directed at Jewish faculty. Incidents include a swastika painted on an academic building, disturbing emails and pro-Hamas rallies. Then-UPenn president Elizabeth Magill and others stated publicly that Jewish employees had been the subject of antisemitism on campus following a Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
President Trump has issued an executive order that requires executive agencies to submit reports on antisemitism at colleges since October 2023, threatening that federal funding will stop for schools that allow “illegal protests.”
A student group in 2024 called “Penn Against the Occupation” on social media criticized 29 faculty members who traveled to Israel. The subpoena seeks information about those members of the UPenn staff, identities of anyone who reported the post and the school’s investigation into the post.
Jewish students and a group called Students Against Antisemitism sued UPenn in 2023. Their complaint was dismissed in June 2025, and they appealed rather than take the option of filing an amended lawsuit to make more specific accusations.
The suit said UPenn refused to punish slurs and chants including “F--- the Jews” since 2023, when the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine began.
UPenn says it has received three antisemitism complaints out of 20,000 employees. It claimed some of the information sought by the EEOC is confidential and irrelevant.
The group Public Citizen claimed the investigation is a case of President Trump pushing his conservative agenda on America’s schools, while the EEOC says it is simply looking into evidence of a hostile work environment.
Pappert refused to agree that the subpoena would prevent Jews from participating in events on campus and said a proposal to give them the contact information for the EEOC to reach out on their own is inadequate.
But the EEOC says it will not seek to enforce Pappert’s order “or otherwise seek from the University of Pennsylvania any material sought by the subpoena during the pendency of the EEOC’s administrative investigation…”
