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How Campus Data Pipelines Got Frozen — and What It Means for Student Privacy Nationwide
Five Stones helped expose a campus student-data pipeline tied to ALL IN and NSLVE. After federal FERPA pressure, that engine froze.
This work is closed. The case page is Campus voter data and the ALL IN challenge.
The work exposed a data pipeline used for partisan campus get-out-the-vote operations, and that Five Stones pressed accountability for misuse of student records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). That work helped set up federal intervention by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
What stopped was the data engine behind the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge. The National Student Clearinghouse withdrew from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE). Without that pipeline, the metrics used to coordinate turnout work across more than 1,000 campuses were frozen.
The program
ALL IN engaged about 1,000 state universities and technical colleges. Participating schools set goals to raise student voter registration and voting rates. Partners such as Students Learn Students Vote worked with schools on student-only registration drives and get-out-the-vote campaigns tied to the Civic Nation ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge.
Schools shared student information with the National Student Clearinghouse and NSLVE. NSLVE sent reports on student registration and voting rates. Schools used those reports to track ALL IN goals. That loop a measurement system, not a one-time file.
A March 2025 FERPA complaint, linked from the case page, asked the Department of Education to investigate participating public schools in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The schools named are Illinois State University, Heartland Community College, University of Wisconsin–Parkside, Grand Valley State University, and Pennsylvania State University. The filing notice is Education Department FERPA filing.
The complaint asked the Department to stop unauthorized sharing of FERPA-protected student data with third parties for plans to increase student registration and voting rates, and to take further action if schools would not comply.
What the freeze means
An unvetted data engine powering ALL IN through the National Student Clearinghouse and NSLVE was forced offline after federal intervention, and Five Stones’ advocacy helped get there.
Schools should not share student records for turnout metrics without a lawful basis, and that privacy rules apply on campus the same way they apply in other education settings.
Five Stones is a 501(c)(3) public charity (EIN 39-2456963), not a law firm. Publishing this note does not create an attorney-client relationship. See the case page for the victory statement.
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