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

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The school later told staff it had provided the Trump administration with personal contact information for faculty members.
Akela Lacy
April 23 2025, 11:16 a.m.

Most professors at Barnard College received text messages on Monday notifying them that a federal agency was reviewing the college’s employment practices, according to copies of the messages reviewed by The Intercept. The messages, sent to most Barnard professors’ personal cellphones, asked them to complete a voluntary survey about their employment. “Please select all that apply,” said the second question in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, survey.

“The federal government reaching out to our personal cellphones to identify who is Jewish is incredibly sinister.”
The choices followed: “I am Jewish”; “I am Israeli”; “I have shared Jewish/Israeli ancestry”; “I practice Judaism”; and “Other.”

Other questions asked respondents whether they had been subjected to antisemitism, as well as whether they were subject to “unwelcome discussions,” graffiti or signs depicting antisemitic messages or images, antisemitic or anti-Israeli protests, “unwelcome comments, jokes or discussions,” or “pressure to abandon, change or adopt a practice or religious belief.”

“The federal government reaching out to our personal cellphones to identify who is Jewish is incredibly sinister,” said Barnard associate professor Debbie Becher, who is Jewish and received the text. “They are clearly targeting what most of the United States, I hope and I think, defines as freedom of speech, but only in the case of anti-Israeli speech.”

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/23/trump-eeoc-barnard-columbia-texts-jewish/