EEOC Files Subpoena Enforcement Action Against University of Pennsylvania Over Antisemitic Work Environment
Federal agency seeks court order for information relating to potential witnesses and victims of antisemitic harassment on campus
PHILADELPHIA / Nov. 18, 2025 – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the filing of an action in federal court to enforce a subpoena issued during its investigation into claims that the University of Pennsylvania engaged in unlawful employment practices by allowing antisemitic harassment to persist and escalate throughout its Philadelphia campus and creating a hostile work environment for Jewish faculty and staff.
The agency’s investigation followed a Commissioner’s charge filed in December 2023 by then EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas. The charge alleged that the university subjected its faculty and staff to antisemitic harassment throughout its workplaces, failed to effectively address complaints of harassment, failed to take prompt and effective measures to end harassment, and instead, allowed harassment to escalate.
To investigate these allegations, the EEOC issued a subpoena to the University of Pennsylvania, requesting, among other things, identification of witnesses to and victims of the religious-based harassment, including their contact information.
“The EEOC remains steadfast in its commitment to combatting workplace antisemitism and seeks to identify employees who may have experienced antisemitic harassment. Unfortunately, the employer continues to refuse to identify members of its workforce who may have been subjected to this unlawful conduct,” said EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas. “An employer’s obstruction of efforts to identify witnesses and victims undermines the EEOC’s ability to investigate harassment. In such cases, we will seek court intervention to secure full cooperation.”
The EEOC filed the action (EEOC v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Case No. 2:25-cv-06502) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, after first attempting to obtain voluntary compliance with its investigative requests.
The University of Pennsylvania is an academic institution located in Philadelphia and is the city’s largest employer.
For more information on religious discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination. For more information on national origin discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/national-origin-discrimination.
The EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office is one of four offices in the Philadelphia District Office, which has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. Attorneys in the Philadelphia District Office also prosecute discrimination cases from Washington, D.C., and parts of Virginia.
The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; the EEOC is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.
Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC.gov)
