PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The federal government’s demand for information about the membership of Jewish groups from the University of Pennsylvania in an investigation into whether antisemitism has created a hostile environment for employees landed Tuesday before a federal judge who will decide whether to enforce a subpoena.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s probe of the Ivy League school in Philadelphia has cited several incidents, including that someone had shouted antisemitic obscenities and destroyed property at a Jewish student life center, a Nazi swastika was painted on an academic building and “hateful graffiti” was left outside a fraternity.
The investigation has also focused on actions related to protests over the war in Gaza, and Penn’s response to that and other incidents.
The hearing before U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert on Tuesday involved the EEOC’s request, filed against Penn’s Board of Trustees in November, seeking to enforce an administrative subpoena it issued as part of the investigation into claims the school has subjected its Jewish faculty and employees to an illegal hostile work environment based on national origin, religion or race.
Pappert did not say when he might rule after the four-hour hearing.
The legal dispute began in December 2023, when the EEOC accused Penn of a pattern of antisemitic behavior, as it …