“Today, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin and Schiller filed a motion to intervene in EEOC v The University of Pennsylvania on behalf of five organizations affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. The groups petitioning the court to join the proceedings represent Jewish faculty and student employees who oppose the non-consensual release of organizational membership rosters and members’ personal information based on the First Amendment right to associate confidentially, which directly impacts the freedoms of speech, association, privacy, and religious liberty. At a press conference hosted by the ACLU-PA this morning, attorneys and impacted Jewish faculty explained the threatening nature of the subpoena and the ramifications that could result if the EEOC’s demands were met, essentially allowing the creation of a centralized registry of UPenn’s Jewish students, faculty, and staff.”

“‘To put things bluntly, I don’t want my employer handing over information about my religious identity without my consent, and I see it as a violation of the First Amendment for the government to be forcing the university to do so. The government cannot guarantee that the information it accumulates about Jews won’t fall into the wrong hands,’ said Steven Phillip Weitzman, professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures at UPenn,” says a Tuesday ACLU press release