NEW YORK (AP) — When employees at Barnard College received a survey this week asking if they were Jewish, among other personal questions, many initially disregarded the message as spam from a federal government impersonator.
The questionnaire, sent by text to their personal cellphones, linked to a Microsoft form bearing the logo of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After instructing respondents to check a box indicating whether they were Jewish or Israeli, and whether they practiced Judaism, it asked if they had experienced harassment as a result, including “unwelcome comments, jokes or discussions.”
“Your first thought is, ‘this has to be fake,’” said Nara Milanich, a Barnard history professor who is Jewish.
But on Wednesday, the recipients of the text messages, which were first reported by The Intercept, learned they were authentic.
In an email to staff, Barnard’s general counsel, Serena Longley, confirmed the survey was part of a federal probe into whether the university had discriminated against Jewish employees. The EEOC, a federal regulator, had ordered Barnard turn over staff contact information “so that it could offer employees the option to voluntarily participate in their investigation,” Longley wrote.
“Participation in the survey is voluntary,” she added.
Barnard faculty estimated that well over half of the university’s staff had received the messages, which have set off anger and panic in recent days.
“That the government is putting together lists of Jews, ostensibly as part of a campaign to fight antisemitism, is really chilling,” Milanich said. “As a historian, I have to say it feels a little uncomfortable.”
Neither the EEOC nor Barnard College responded to emails seeking comment.
The surveys come as the Trump administration has enacted funding cuts and other punitive measures against universities across the country that it claims have not done enough to quell antisemitism on campus. Barnard, a sister school of Columbia University, has been the site of frequent and at times disruptive pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Last week, Columbia University warned a smaller subset of its faculty that they may be contacted by EEOC as part of a new investigation into antisemitism on campus. The email, reviewed by The Associated Press, indicated the federal regulator was interested in speaking with members of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, as well as the Task Force on Antisemitism.
It was not immediately clear whether those members had received the same questionnaire. Inquiries to Columbia University were not returned.
Debbie Becher, a Sociology professor at Barnard, who is also Jewish, said the surveys suggested the Trump administration was “fishing for complaints about discrimination based on Jewish status.”
“They’re not concerned about antisemitism, they’re inflaming antisemitism,” Becher added. “They’re concerned with tearing down the institutions of higher education and shutting down any speech that is pro-Palestinian or critical of Israel.”
