State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) announced Sunday evening that he was launching an investigation into how students from Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and Northern Arizona University received text messages from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign on the last day before voter registration ends in the state. Hoffman, who chairs the Senate Committee on Government, expressed concern that it might violate FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy act that protects students.
Hoffman told The Arizona Sun Times on Sunday, “I was made aware of this breach of security by dozens of students today, and intend to throw the full weight of the Arizona Senate into ascertaining how the Harris campaign acquired these students’ legally protected personally identifiable information.”
The College Republicans at ASU broke the story on X on Sunday. They posted, “150,000 students from ALL Arizona universities including ASU and UofA have received a text from Kamala Harris’ campaign telling the students to vote for her. If Kamala Harris has access to all of Arizona college students’ phone numbers, what ELSE do they have?”
🚨MAJOR BREAKING: 150,000 students from ALL Arizona universities including ASU and UofA have received a text from Kamala Harris' campaign telling the students to vote for her.
If Kamala Harris has access to all of Arizona college students' phone numbers, what ELSE do they have? pic.twitter.com/YlolDGSr9T
— College Republicans at ASU (@asu_gop) October 6, 2024
A source who prefers not to be identified who buys access to phone numbers for campaign work told The Sun Times there is a program that allows campaigns to access the phone numbers of college students. However, it does not narrow them down by college. The text message from the Harris campaign to the ASU students began, “Hi Sun Devils…” The source said that shows the access must have come directly from the school.
The Harris campaign text message urged the students to register to vote, and said Harris and her vice presidential running mate Tim Walz were the “underdogs” in the race. It said college students could make the difference in the presidential election. The last day to register to vote in Arizona is October 7, the day after the text was sent.
The ASU College Republicans said parents and alumni are also receiving the texts. The ASU Republicans posted a text message that went to Northern Arizona University students, stating that it was the third college in Arizona where this was occurring. The text began, “Hi Lumberjacks…”
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) observed that the link to register to vote in the texts went to a site hosted by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
On X, users are attempting to add Community Notes to the College Republicans’ post. One linked to an article from 2020 at The Washington Post about how campaigns buy Americans’ personal information. However, the article states nothing about information from college students.
A second proposed note responded to the first one, “The proposed note has literally nothing to do with the claim, and if the Kamala campaign inappropriately accessed school enrollment data, it would be a violation of several laws and FEC rules.”
A proposed note suggested under Hoffman’s post said, “Phone numbers and other information at colleges and universities may be considered directory information under FERPA, and therefore able to be requested through a public records request. ASU lists phone numbers as directory information on their website.” The note linked to a guide for students on how to block their personal information from being released, and a description of what types of personal information is releasable.
The latter is linked to FERPA, 34 CFR 99.3 and 34 CFR 99.37. According to the U.S. Department of Education, “FERPA … permits a school to disclose PII from an eligible student’s education records, without consent, when such information has been appropriately designated as ‘directory information,’ and the eligible student has not opted out of the disclosure of such designated information.” It said PII, or personally identifiable information, includes phone numbers.
According to The Washington Post, spokespersons for NAU and ASU said providing this information to political campaigns was legal since it was directory information. However, they did not confirm whether they provided this information to the Harris campaign.
The Arizona Capitol Times said all three universities denied receiving a request from the Harris campaign, suggesting a third party might have requested the information, then provided it to the Harris campaign. Hoffman said it “raises deeply troubling questions about the lack of data security.”
The UA’s website states that the school wasn’t required to turn over the students’ personal information to parties that request it. “FERPA provides that an institution may release general directory information (that is, the items of directory information that have been designated for general, not limited, release) to anyone, but there is no obligation to do so.”
The Sun Times reached out to all three universities but only received a response from ASU and NAU by the time this went to publication. The ASU spokesperson said that it was common for commercial entities and political campaigns to request this information, which was releasable under FERPA as directory information. The NAU spokesperson said they did not provide the data to the Harris campaign and did not know how the campaign obtained it.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “State Sen. Jake Hoffman” by Gage Skidmore CC2.0.
