Trump Administration's Demand for Jewish Student List Sparks Civil Liberties Alarm
A federal judge has ordered the University of Pennsylvania to justify its refusal to collect and disclose the names and personal contact information of Jewish faculty, staff and students to the government. This extraordinary demand, made in the name of combating antisemitism, has triggered widespread alarm among civil liberties advocates and Jewish organisations across the United States.
Unprecedented Government Demand
Late last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued Penn to force compliance with this chilling request. The demand specifically targets members of campus Jewish organisations, the Jewish studies department, and individuals who participated in confidential listening sessions and surveys about antisemitism. Jewish and non-Jewish community members at Penn and beyond have united to support the university's resistance to compiling and releasing this sensitive data.
The Trump administration claims to act in the name of Jewish safety and against antisemitism, but this common reaction from groups with often divergent views may reflect a growing concern that its actions belie those laudable aims. A diverse array of organisations, including Penn's Hillel and Meor chapters, AAUP-Penn, the Association for Jewish Studies, the American Council on Education and Pen America, as well as local chapters of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation and the American Jewish Committee, have all spoken against the EEOC's lawsuit.
Historical Parallels and Contemporary Concerns
If history teaches us anything, it is that making lists of Jews, no matter the ostensible purpose, is often a prelude to their and others' persecution. Many Jewish people affiliated with US universities, ourselves included, have family who escaped or died at the hands of authoritarian regimes that persecuted Jews and others based on their religious or political beliefs.
Even if the EEOC is collecting Jewish community members' personal data in a good-faith effort to ensure safety, lists of Jews can later be leaked, or deployed to other, more sinister ends. History is replete with examples: a census of Jews undertaken by the Dutch government in 1941, for instance, allowed the invading Nazis to target Jewish citizens for death camps and extermination.
Broader Implications for Civil Society
At both an intellectual and a visceral level, the government requiring the university to hand over the personal contact information – including addresses – of Jewish students, faculty and staff, over strong objections, would be profoundly chilling under any circumstances. It is especially so in a political environment increasingly saturated with unvarnished hate, including antisemitism and white supremacy endorsed by individuals within the government and amplified by figures with outsize influence on some of its most powerful leaders.
The demand is particularly concerning in light of the Trump administration's broader assault on universities, free speech and academic freedom, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, other vulnerable communities and political dissent more generally. The Trump administration has used allegations of antisemitism – along with criticism of ideas and policies around race and gender – as a justification to attack universities, including suspensions of federal funding for lifesaving scientific and medical research, and attempts to enforce ideological uniformity on college campuses and beyond.
Expanding Government Surveillance Powers
The EEOC's demand for a list of Jews at Penn, while distinctive in its breadth and specificity, is an extension of tactics the government has already employed against others: violently detaining and seeking to deport international students who voiced disfavoured views; demanding lists of patients from medical centres; and collecting information about Jewish employees at other schools, including Barnard College.
Against this backdrop, the Trump administration's demand for a list of Penn's Jews may seek to establish the government's power to compel such disclosures, with staggeringly broad implications. Today, the administration asserts its prerogative to demand lists of Jewish community members in the name of protecting Jews from antisemitism. Tomorrow, it may extract from universities the names and personal contact information of faculty, staff and students associated with other religious, cultural or identity-based campus organisations or academic departments; or of individuals who were born outside the United States or who study ideas the government deems "harmful" or "anti-American".
Threat Beyond Educational Institutions
Notably, this threat is not confined to colleges and universities. Unlike Title VI and Title IX, provisions of civil rights law that apply only to educational institutions, Title VII's prohibition of employment discrimination covers most public and private employers. If the EEOC can force Penn to disclose a list of Jews, the door is open to the government's (mis)use of such newly established authority to investigate discrimination claims as a wedge to demand lists of employees, their addresses and personal phone numbers and email addresses, from virtually any employer for purposes of surveillance, harassment or punishment.
The Trump administration's disregard for data privacy and its cavalier approach to data collection, storage and sharing across government agencies heightens that danger. Many Jews, including our own relatives, came to the United States to flee governments that used lists of Jews and political dissidents to round up and persecute those considered enemies of the state.
A Call for Resistance
The government's demand for a list of Jews at Penn must be seen for what it may portend not only for the Jewish community but for all of us: unfettered government power to stifle opposition, impose ideological uniformity and undermine civil society. We must resist the government's demand so that everyone – regardless of race, religion, national origin or ideology – may live free from the fears that have led so many to seek refuge here.
The authors are members of the University of Pennsylvania faculty but write here in their individual capacities.
