As part of its investigation into antisemitism at the University of Pennsylvania, the Trump administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had been attempting to subpoena the names of students and staff members in clubs, groups and organizations related to the “Jewish religion, faith, ancestry/national origin,” according to a court filing.

Penn refused to comply and fought the subpoena in court, citing First Amendment concerns and the desire to protect Jewish community members. The push also received consistent media scrutiny.

Now, the Trump administration has withdrawn the request.

A court filing on July 23 revealed that the EEOC is dropping its attempt to subpoena the names of Jewish people at Penn. It did not offer specifics on the decision.

“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 Penn spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian, the university’s student newspaper.

The federal inquiry into antisemitism at Penn began in 2023 under the Biden administration after a series of incidents on campus. But the Trump administration issued the subpoena last year, in what it said was an effort to aid the investigation.

In January court filings, Penn rejected the subpoena on First and Fourth Amendment grounds — free speech and privacy — appealing to the long history of governments collecting information on Jews without their consent.

Penn also claimed in November that it had done its part to assist in the investigation. It said it submitted over 100 documents totaling more than 900 pages to the EEOC. It just didn’t want to disclose the names and contact information of Jews without their consent.

“Violating their privacy and trust is antithetical to ensuring Penn’s Jewish community feels protected and safe,” the school told Philadelphia Jewish Exponent in a statement.

In March, the federal judge in the case, Gerald J. Pappert, ruled that Penn needed to comply with the legal demand. He said that Penn and the leaders of Jewish groups on campus, who submitted separate filings, overstated in comparing it to Nazi Germany.

Pappert continued by saying that the request had “an understandable purpose,” which was to obtain “information on individuals in Penn’s Jewish community who could have experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the workplace.”

He ordered Penn to comply by May 1. The school promised to appeal the ruling.

“While we acknowledge the important role of the EEOC to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees,” wrote Penn officials in a statement after the ruling. “We continue to believe that requiring Penn to create lists of Jewish faculty and staff, and to provide personal contact information, raises serious privacy and First Amendment concerns. The University does not maintain employee lists by religion.”

The appeal succeeded.

In late April, Pappert issued another ruling stating that the school could carry out the appeal process without turning over the names.

“The E.E.O.C. asserts the public has an interest in the E.E.O.C. investigating a valid charge of discrimination, and that is true, but the public also has an interest in the orderly resolution of this case through the ordinary appellate process,” Judge Pappert wrote, according to a New York Times report.

“Now that the stay has been granted, we can proceed with the appeal process,” wrote Penn in a statement, according to the Times.

In April, at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law’s conference on antisemitism and civil rights law at Harvard University, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas explained that information collection was essential to the successful prosecution of civil rights cases.

She said Jews had to decide if they actually wanted civil rights enforcement “in this space.” If so, the government needed information.

Under Lucas’ leadership, the EEOC has increased the number of religious workplace discrimination cases that it pursues. The chair framed this strategy as essential to preserving religious liberty, a core value of her office.

Regarding this case specifically, Lucas said, “I have reason to believe there are victims there, but I may not know all of them.” She acknowledged privacy concerns and the “sensitivities” involved, but she also said that the EEOC takes its confidentiality duties “very, very seriously.”

Throughout this process, Jewish groups on campus and community leaders reiterated the importance of the investigation itself.

On Nov. 21, Penn Hillel posted its position about the issue to its Facebook page.

“We support serious efforts to address antisemitism on campus, and we recognize and appreciate the EEOC’s concern for civil rights and workforce protections,” it stated.

“At the same time, we are deeply concerned that the EEOC is now seeking lists of individuals identified as Jewish, including their personal home addresses, phone numbers, and private emails, based solely on their affiliation with Jewish organizations on campus — and without their consent,” it continued.

“In our view, Penn has offered a reasonable alternative — informing all employees of the investigation and inviting them to contact the EEOC directly,” it concluded.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, ADL and the American Jewish Committee of Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey posted the same stance on the social media platform X.

The groups said they “share the EEOC’s commitment to combating antisemitism and protecting Jewish employees from discrimination and harassment on college campuses” and “appreciate that the EEOC has undertaken a number of critical investigations to help do just that.”

“We are, however, concerned about the privacy and constitutional implications of any effort (even those that are well-intentioned) to force the production of a list of Jewish faculty, staff, and students by religious affiliation,” they concluded.

The investigation began after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

Between the attack and the start of the probe, tags reading “The Jews R Nazis” were found near Penn’s AEPi house; antisemitic emails threatened physical violence against Jews, Penn Hillel and the Lauder College House, a building named for a Jewish donor family; at campus rallies, speakers supported the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, and chanted “intifada, intifada,” a call for violence.

In December 2023, Penn President M. Elizabeth Magill was forced to resign from her position after failing to forcefully condemn hypothetical calls for genocide against Jews while testifying at a congressional hearing. She described disciplining Penn students who called for genocide against Jews as a “context-dependent decision.”

The following spring, an anti-Israel encampment on campus lasted two weeks. It took a forceful statement from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, to get the school to break up the disruptive encampment, which stood on the campus green during graduation season.

“All students should feel safe when they’re on campus. All students have a legal right to feel safe on campus,” Shapiro said at the time, according to The Bedford Gazette, a newspaper that was covering a separate event at which he spoke that day. “The University of Pennsylvania has an obligation to their safety. It is past time for the university to act, to address this, to disband the encampment and to restore order and safety on campus.”

Since that time, Penn has established an Office of Religious and Ethnic Inclusion to handle discrimination complaints, protest guidelines to prohibit encampments and overnight demonstrations, a position of neutrality on local and world events that do not directly impact the school, and mandatory anti-discrimination training for students, faculty and staff. It has also added antisemitism as a category in its bias reporting systems.

jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com