PHILADELPHIA – A group of University of Pennsylvania professors have sued the school, alleging its cooperation with Congressional investigations into anti-Semitic activity on campus have compromised their free speech and privacy rights, and are tantamount to a modern form of “McCarthyism.”
Huda Fakhreddine, Troutt Powell and Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on March 9 versus the University of Pennsylvania. All parties are of Philadelphia.
University of Pennsylvania faculty received a demand from the House Committee on Education & the Workforce this past January for a host of records related to anti-Semitism on campus, such as teaching materials and email messages.
The investigation and demand for documents from the school’s faculty followed the testimony before Congress and later resignation of former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill.
“The Committee has eagerly joined billionaire donors, pro-Israel groups, other litigants and segments of the media in accusing Penn of being a pervasively anti-Semitic environment (which it is not) – but to advance this narrative, every one of these participants in the hue-and-cry, including the Committee, have asserted that anti-Zionism, and in fact virtually any criticism of the state of Israel, is anti-Semitism,” the suit says.
“Criticisms of the nation-state, Israel, including statements of anti-Zionism, are First Amendment-protected speech. The new McCarthyism has, since long before the Hamas atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023, been highly successful at getting individuals fired from jobs, expelled or suspended from universities, denied tenure or advancement, demoted from prominent media roles, and dropped by entertainment agents, as well as successfully obtaining the rescission of offers of employment, and of invitations to participate in conferences and workshops, speaking engagements and numerous other opportunities. This new McCarthyism, which was growing slowly before Oct. 7, but is surging up very rapidly now, has already been hugely successful at ending careers and blighting lives, just like its predecessor [in the 1950’s].”
The suit adds the “individual plaintiffs are tenured Penn professors who have been threatened, accused and doxxed for the subject matter they teach, and their First Amendment-protected criticism of Israel and their advocacy for Palestinians and the people of Gaza”, continuing that “neither of them is an anti-Semite, but both have been falsely accused of bias towards Jews.”
Plaintiff Fakhreddine is “a leading scholar of Arabic literature, whose work focuses on modernist movements or trends in Arabic poetry and their relationship to the Arabic literary tradition”, while plaintiff Powell is “a professor of History and Africana Studies at Penn and a former President of the Middle East Studies Association,” the suit notes.
“Plaintiff Fakhreddine is an Arab-American who additionally has been reviled for her national origin and ethnicity. Two members of the Committee, relying uncritically and likely maliciously on false narratives, mentioned her by name on national television during the hearing, asking why she was still employed at Penn,” the suit states.
“The Committee first sent a letter to Penn demanding the production of many categories of information, including private Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act-protected student files and documents pertaining to an annual scholarly event produced by plaintiff Fakhreddine, focusing on Palestinian literature. Since this was not a subpoena but a letter requesting voluntary compliance, Penn would have been within its rights to protect its community by refusing compliance. Instead, Penn, its trustees off-balance and frightened by the accusations of anti-Semitism, announced it would comply with the Committee’s letter, and, on information and belief, has begun producing documents. Penn’s compliance with the Committee’s letter threatens the privacy, safety, academic freedom and careers of the individual plaintiffs and of many other members of the Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine.”
For counts of violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution’s free speech and privacy rights, violating the Pennsylvania Constitution’s privacy rights and breach of contract, the plaintiffs are seeking the issuance of a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Penn from complying with the information letter, together with such other and further relief as may be just and proper.
The plaintiffs are represented by Shahily Negron of The Law Firm of Shahily Negron, in Reading.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:24-cv-01034
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com