Ivy League institution says privacy concerns outweigh federal investigators' access demands
University of Pennsylvania faces EEOC enforcement action for refusing to disclose employee identities in antisemitic harassment investigation, challenging employer privacy claims.
When the University of Pennsylvania received a federal subpoena asking for the names and contact information of employees who experienced or witnessed antisemitic harassment on campus, the institution drew a line. Privacy, the university argued, had to come first. The EEOC disagreed and filed enforcement papers on November 18, 2025, in federal court.
The dispute centers on a question that keeps many HR leaders up at night: What exactly do you have to hand over when a federal agency comes knocking during a discrimination investigation?
According to the filing, the EEOC began investigating allegations that Penn had subjected Jewish faculty, staff, and student employees to a hostile work environment based on religion and national origin dating back to November 2022. The agency initially made informal requests for information. When the university declined to provide employee identities, saying it only had three formal complaints out of a workforce of over 20,000, the EEOC escalated to an administrative subpoena in July 2025.
The university fought back, arguing that disclosing employee names and contact information without their consent violated privacy principles. The EEOC countered that confidentiality...
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