petersuberApr 23, 2025

"Trump administration texted college professors' personal phones to ask if they're Jewish."
https://theintercept.com/2025/04/23/trump-eeoc-barnard-columbia-texts-jewish/

As all academics know, you can't ask this question in a job interview.
https://www.eeoc.gov/pre-employment-inquiries-and-religious-affiliation-or-beliefs

But I guess it's OK when it's not a job interview, when it's the govt asking, and the govt includes a high-ranking official who gives #Nazi salutes.

This happened at #BarnardCollege. Probably no accident that Barnard is affiliated with #Columbia. Trump officials said they had a right to the personal contact info, and the school handed it over.

#Antisemitism #Trump #USPol #USPolitics #WTF
@academicchatter

Trump Administration Texted College Professors’ Personal Phones to Ask If They’re Jewish

“Barnard was not given advance notice of this outreach,” the college’s general counsel wrote in an email to faculty.

The Intercept
Show threadpetersuberJan 14

Update. The Trump admin is demanding a list of Jewish faculty, staff, and students at #UPenn.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/13/upenn-trump-jews-list

Trump's #EEOC asked for the list last July. Penn refused, and the EEOC sued the university in November. What's new is that several groups just filed a motion in federal court to intervene in the lawsuit on the side of the university -- the American Association of University Professors (#AAUP, national and UPenn chapters), the American Academy of Jewish Research, the UPenn Jewish Law Students Association, the UPenn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty.

From #StevenWeitzman, UPenn prof of religious studies and past member of its antisemitism taskforce: “Part of what sets off alarm bells for people like me is a history of people using Jewish lists against Jews. The Nazi campaign against Jews depended on institutions like universities handing over information about their Jewish members to the authorities.”

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Antisemitism #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

UPenn faculty condemn Trump administration’s demand for ‘lists of Jews’

Groups say EEOC demand for names and personal details echoes dark history and threatens safety and civil rights

The Guardian
Show threadpetersuberJan 21

Update. Yesterday #UPenn filed a 163-page brief in federal court condemning the #Trump admin demand for a list of #Jews at the institution as “extraordinary and unconstitutional".
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/20/us/university-of-pennsylvania-trump-jewish-staff.html

"The #EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry. The government’s demand implicates Penn’s substantial interest in protecting its employees’ privacy, safety and First Amendment rights."

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Antisemitism #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

University of Pennsylvania Rebukes Trump Administration for Demanding Information About Jewish Staff

The federal government has sued the University of Pennsylvania for information on its Jewish employees. The university said the request recalls a “frightening” history.

The New York Times
Show threadpetersuberApr 1

Update. "Federal Judge Approves Trump Effort to Obtain List of Jews From Penn."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/31/us/politics/trump-jews-penn-list-judge.html

Penn will appeal 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.”

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Antisemitism #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics

Judge Approves Trump Effort to Obtain List of Jews From University of Pennsylvania

The government’s effort to collect the names and phone numbers of Jewish people on campus as it investigates antisemitism has upset some people who worry about how the information will be used.

The New York Times
Show threadJohn Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺

@petersuber

Link past tracking wall:

"Federal Judge Approves Trump Effort to Obtain List of Jews From Penn

The government’s effort to collect the names and phone numbers of Jewish people on campus as it investigates antisemitism has upset some people who worry about how the information will be used."

By Michael C. Bender and Alan Blinder
The New York Times
March 31, 2026
Updated 5:38 p.m. ET

https://archive.ph/R273R

Apr 1 at 3:24pmWeb