Illinois GOP backs student privacy complaint against ISU

By Catrina Barker | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Republicans are backing a former candidate, Desi Anderson’s, complaint to the U.S. Department of Education over student data privacy.

The federal complaint accuses ISU of violating privacy laws by sharing student data with ALL IN and ISU’s Center for Civic Engagement for election-related activities without consent, alleging a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act breach and misuse of student information for political purposes.

An ISU report attributed to “University staff” published Aug. 1, 2024, said the university recognized ALL IN for voter engagement.

“The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a non-partisan initiative aimed at increasing student democratic participation on college and university campuses,” the post said.

State Rep. Travis Weaver, R-Peoria, joined U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, 2026 Republican candidates Dillan Vancil, Republican gubernatorial candidate Ted Dabrowski, and state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, at a recent news conference.

“I think it’s a FERPA issue, it’s a federal issue. Looking at the control of how Congress and the Senate sits, I think there’s a much stronger chance of [legislation] getting passed at the federal level,” said Weaver.

Weaver stressed that student information should remain under the control of the students themselves.

“I think all students deserve to have data protection, and it’s their property, it’s their data. The school has no business giving it to somebody else, especially to be weaponized back against the students themselves,” Weaver told The Center Square.

LaHood, backing a federal bill led in the Senate by Mike Lee, R-Utah, explained the data sharing isn’t specifically aimed at conservative students and stressed that privacy should be a bipartisan issue.

“Illinois State University complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and we do not believe there has been an improper disclosure of student information,” Chris Coplan, ISU spokesman, told The Center Square in an email.

Lawmakers highlighted that the federal filing names ISU, Heartland Community College, Eureka College, and Millikin University among schools accused of giving student directory information, including addresses and phone numbers, to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.

“These are 44 colleges in Illinois that have participated in the sharing of student data,” said Anderson during the news conference.

ALL IN is affiliated with the national nonprofit Civic Nation, a nonprofit which has strong ties to Barack and Michelle Obama.

Weaver weighed in on the question of university civic engagement initiatives versus privacy protections, advocating for transparency and student consent

“It can’t just be you show up to school on day one, and they give you a 100-page document with a whole bunch of legalese. You can’t just tuck it in there. If you ask a student, ‘hey, do you mind if we share this,’ and they say ‘yes,’ then of course you can,” said Weaver. “If they give you their blessing, then I think that that’s fine, but I think we just need to bring some transparency and just make students aware of what’s happening to their data.”

Anderson said students feel their trust in the institutions they rely on has been broken.

Weaver stressed that privacy protections should not be partisan.

“I don’t think that it’s partisan because if it was the Heritage Foundation or Turning Point, I would still have a problem with it. You’ve got a right to protect your data,” said Weaver. “I do think it’s kind of interesting that it’s not the Heritage Foundation and it’s not Turning Point because I think on the right, we’ve been really solid on protecting privacy and property rights. But if you change the name of the organization, I wouldn’t feel any differently about it.”.

Anderson’s complaint is being considered by the Department of Education.