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Kamala Harris Campaign Accused of Improper Use of Student Data in Arizona

A political controversy has erupted in Arizona after thousands of students across the state’s major universities received text messages from the Kamala Harris campaign urging them to vote for her and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The incident has sparked concerns about potential collusion between Harris’s campaign and the universities, particularly over how the campaign gained access to the personal contact information of students, alumni, and even parents.

According to reports, more than 150,000 students from Arizona State University (ASU), the University of Arizona (UofA), and Northern Arizona University (NAU) were recipients of these unsolicited campaign messages. The texts encouraged students to vote for Harris and Walz, leaving many questioning how the campaign accessed such a vast database of personal information.

Arizona State Representative Alex Kolodin, who also serves as the Vice Chairman of the Arizona House Elections Committee, raised legal concerns about the situation. He pointed to Arizona law, specifically ARS 16-192, which prohibits the use of state resources to influence election outcomes. Kolodin expressed concerns that if the universities exclusively provided the Harris campaign with this data, it could be a violation of this statute. “If this list was made available only to the Harris campaign by the universities, that would potentially be a violation of this statute,” Kolodin said.

Despite the concerns, it remains unclear whether other political campaigns requested or received similar data from Arizona universities. Public records show that the information distributed to the Harris campaign could include current students, former students, and even parents. The nature of the data obtained and the specifics of its acquisition are still under investigation, with no official confirmation as to whether other campaigns accessed similar information.

The ASU College Republicans were among the first to voice their alarm over the situation, taking to social media to raise concerns about the privacy of student information. Their post read: “150,000 students from ALL Arizona universities including ASU and UofA have received a text from Kamala Harris’s campaign telling the students to vote for her. Kamala Harris has access to all of Arizona college students’ phone numbers. What ELSE do they have?”

An Arizona State University spokesperson issued a statement attempting to clarify the situation, explaining that student contact information is considered public record under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). According to the spokesperson, directory information, which includes a student’s phone number, major, and dates of attendance, is accessible to third parties, including political campaigns, unless students specifically opt out by submitting a form to withhold their information.

“The contact information of enrolled students (including their cell phone numbers) is a matter of public record. This is not ASU policy. Under FERPA, it is considered ‘directory information,’ along with other basic information like the student’s major, dates of attendance, and enrollment status,” the spokesperson explained. “It is common for entities that want to advertise to ASU students to request this publicly available contact information—everything from apartment complexes to credit card companies to political candidates.”

Although this response sheds light on how the Harris campaign may have obtained the information, the situation has raised broader concerns about privacy and transparency. Many students and their families were caught off guard by the unsolicited texts, and questions remain about the extent of the campaign’s access to personal data and whether other political campaigns used similar methods.

Further complicating matters is Arizona State University’s history of political controversies. The university has faced accusations of promoting liberal agendas and suppressing conservative viewpoints. In 2023, ASU faced backlash after conservative figures such as Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager were invited to speak at an event on campus. The event sparked protests from faculty and students, leading to the harassment and eventual firing of two university employees who helped organize the event.

Additionally, during the 2022 midterm elections, Arizona PBS, which is partnered with ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism, was criticized for giving Arizona gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs free airtime after she refused to debate her Republican opponent, Kari Lake. Critics argued that the university’s decision to offer Hobbs a platform outside of a debate setting was politically motivated.

These prior incidents, along with the latest controversy involving the Harris campaign, have added fuel to concerns that Arizona universities may be favoring progressive political figures and causes. For conservatives, the idea that student data was used to promote a Democratic candidate raises questions about impartiality and fairness in political campaigning.

As investigations into the matter continue, Kolodin and other state officials are calling for transparency and further examination of how the Harris campaign acquired the student contact information. Whether other candidates received access to the same data remains to be seen, and how the universities manage and protect student data in the future is likely to be scrutinized even more closely.

For now, the issue has thrust Arizona’s universities into the national spotlight, and students across the state are left wondering how their personal information ended up in the hands of a political campaign. With the 2024 election season in full swing, the question of how campaigns obtain voter data will likely continue to be a contentious topic.

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Joe Messina

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