US federal judge orders Penn university to provide information on campus Jewish community

A United States federal judge, Gerald Pappert, ordered the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to comply with a federal subpoena from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) seeking information about Jewish students, faculty and campus groups on 31/03/2026.

The order is the culmination of a months-long legal conflict between Penn and the EEOC since the subpoena was first issued in July 2025. The US government’s demands for a list of names, phone numbers and mailing addresses of Jewish people has been regarded as an invasion of privacy and has alarmed many members of Penn’s Jewish community. Penn does not keep lists of which community members are Jewish.

The United States’ government argues that the subpoena comes as an effort to combat antisemitism on Penn’s campus — an extension of the heated war the government has waged against Ivy League Universities’ since the early days of the second Trump Administration.

In a memorandum written by Pappert filed alongside the order, the judge argues that the EEOC has a broad right of access to information that might establish…