Arizona State U. Under Fire After Harris Campaign Accessed Data to Text 70,000 Students

Arizona State U. Under Fire After Harris Campaign Accessed Data to Text 70,000 Students

This needs to be investigated. Who asked for the data and who gave it to them? The fact that this happened in Arizona is not a coincidence.

The College Fix reports:

ASU under fire after Harris campaign accesses data to text 70,000 students

The Kamala Harris presidential campaign texted 70,000 Arizona State University students and a total of 150,000 students statewide, urging them to vote for her. Now, students, a professor, and a state representative are demanding answers.

College Republicans at ASU announced on Twitter and Instagram that the Harris campaign texted “students from [all] Arizona universities,” including ASU, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona.

“If Kamala Harris has access to all of Arizona college students’ phone numbers, what ELSE do they have?” the group stated.

The posts included a screenshot of the text ASU students received, which reads:

Hi Sun Devils, it’s Kamala Harris. I wanted to remind you that the deadline to register to vote in Arizona is Monday, October 7. Thanks to record turnout among college students in 2020, I am Vice President of the United States Today.

Tim Walz and I are the underdogs in this election, but student voters could make the difference. We need your support to win. As an Arizona State University student, you can register and vote in Arizona. Your vote is your voice and your power. You must not let anybody take your power from you.

Carson Carpenter, president of College Republicans at ASU, told The College Fix in a phone interview that the group confirmed the report by analyzing enrollment data from the universities involved and speaking with many students, most of whom received the text.

They found that recent transfer students did not receive it, possibly because they are not yet in the university databases. Additionally, parents and alumni received the texts, suggesting the actual number of recipients could be higher.

“We’re going to be submitting a [Freedom of Information Act] request very soon to understand how that information was supposedly public,” Carpenter said. He said ASU needs to do a better job protecting student data.

The students are requesting all communications related to the decision to provide student contact information for political use.

Students want an answer “on how it’s public information, and we haven’t heard anything from these universities clarifying that,” the student said.

An ASU spokesperson, who asked not to be named, told The Fix in an email statement: “Under Arizona Public Records Law, ASU’s records are public unless there is a specific confidentiality requirement.”

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