The chairman of the North Dakota Democratic NPL Party says a Bismarck advertising agency has asked the state’s University System for the names, addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers for all 48,000 students in the North Dakota University System.
The request was made to the University system by Odney Advertising – a firm with ties to the Republican Party.
Bob Valeu says the request violates what he called the implicit understanding each student has regarding the privacy of their information.
"The overriding issue is that our students, while in college, should not have their personal information exposed for marketing or political purposes," Valeu told Bismarck reporters.
Odney’s president, Patrick Finken, says the Democrats’ assertions are “foolish.”
"Quite frankly, as in all things, we play by the rules," said Finken. "We always have. And that's no different in this case."
Finken says he has clients who want to market to college students – and some of the clients are political.
Valeu had asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to issue a “cease and desist” order to Odney. But Stenehjem says what the ad agency asked for is generally public information – but students may opt-out of releasing directory records.
