A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration's request for a list of employees in Jewish-related organizations at the University of Pennsylvania was a valid part of its investigation into discrimination at the school.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the subpoena last year to identify potential victims of antisemitism in the wake of Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023.

The subpoena seeks contact information and the names of university employees in Jewish-related organizations and people in the Jewish studies program, according to Politico.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, agreed with the Trump administration's argument that the request was typical for discrimination investigations.

“Though ineptly worded, the request had an understandable purpose — to obtain in a narrowly tailored way, as opposed to seeking information on all university employees, information on individuals in Penn’s Jewish community who could have experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the workplace,” Pappert wrote in his 32-page opinion.

The judge gave the university until May 1 to comply with the administration's requests, but the university told the New York Times that it will appeal the ruling and that it is “committed to confronting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”

“While we acknowledge the important role of the E.E.O.C. to investigate discrimination, we also have an obligation to protect the rights of our employees,” the university said. “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.”

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.