TPIA Request — Targeted Communications (Designated Custodians)¶
Thread ID:
1844920979909523621
Date Range: 2025-10-02 to 2025-10-17
Emails in Thread: 2
Email 1: 2025-10-02 20:10:56¶
From: Kevin Bass kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com
To: publicinfo@ttu.edu
CC: eric.bentley@ttu.edu, ronny.wall@ttu.edu
Subject: TPIA Request — Targeted Communications (Designated Custodians)
Content¶
To the Public Information Officer,
Attached is my TPIA request seeking targeted emails and Teams/Slack
messages referencing "Kevin Bass" or "Kevin Norris Bass" (and my email
variants) for the date range noted. Please search the custodians and
systems described in the attached letter. If any portion is unclear or
unduly burdensome, please identify the burden with specificity and
propose narrowing consistent with Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 552.222 and
552.267.
Kevin Bass PhD MS
Phone: [REDACTED – HOME-PHONE]
Attachments¶
- 12_TPIA_D_Targeted_Comms_AGENCY.pdf (3,748 bytes)
Extracted text (click to expand)
``` October 02, 2025 Via email: Public Information Officer, Texas Tech University System — publicinfo@ttu.edu Re: Texas Public Information Act Request – Targeted Communications Referencing Kevin Norris Bass (June 1, 2023 – October 2, 2025) To the Public Information Officer: Under the Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov't Code ch. 552), please produce all emails (subject, body, and attachments) and Teams/SharePoint/Slack/IM/SMS messages referencing “Kevin Norris Bass” or my email variants (kevinnbass@…, kbass@…, Kevin.Bass@ttuhsc.edu), sent or received between June 1, 2023 and October 2, 2025, by the following custodians: Dr. Deborah Birx; Registrar (Amanda McSween); Financial Aid leadership; Student Affairs leadership; General Counsel liaisons for TTUHSC SOM; professionalism/SPPCC leadership; clerkship/rotation leadership and site directors/coordinators for Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Psychiatry, and Family Medicine; course administrators and scheduling coordinators; Maxient system admin; IT eDiscovery/Email Admin. Include any individual who held these roles within the date range. Search and ESI: Search agency email/document systems and collaboration/messaging platforms used for agency business (Exchange/Outlook, Teams/SharePoint, Slack, SMS/iMessage, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Signal), including agency-managed personal devices to the extent required by § 552.004/SB 944. Produce electronic records in reasonably usable format (EML/MSG/PDF■text; CSV/XLSX for metadata). Include native metadata (to/from/cc/bcc, date/time, subject, message■ID) and attachment names. Redactions/Withholding: If claiming an exception, identify the specific statutory basis and release all reasonably segregable portions. For student emails, redact personally identifiable student information under FERPA/§ 552.114 rather than withhold in full. Narrowing and costs: If any portion is unclear or unduly burdensome, please identify the burden with specificity and propose narrowing consistent with Tex. Gov [... content truncated for display ...] ```Email 2: 2025-10-17 22:00:43¶
From: "Staugaard, Bronte" Bronte.Staugaard@ttu.edu
To: "kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com" kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com
Subject: TPIA Request — Targeted Communications (Designated Custodians)
Content¶
Good Afternoon,
Texas Tech University System (TTUS) is in receipt of your Texas Public Information Act request below/attached. However, TTUS seeks to discuss with you how the scope of your request might be narrowed and/or clarified pursuant to Texas Government Code § 552.222(b). TTUS requests that you narrow or clarify the scope of your request as follows:
1. Your request seeks all communications across a significant number of custodians and numerous platforms (emails, Teams/SharePoint/Slack/IM/SMS/iMessages, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.) over a 28-month period. The search alone will result in significant costs to you.
2. You may wish to consider narrowing the scope of your request to reduce these potential costs. For example, you could limit your request by doing the following:
* Reduce Custodians: Limit your request to only 2-3 custodians instead of numerous custodians.
* Narrow the Timeframe: Narrow the 28-month period to a more relevant period, such as a single semester or academic year.
* Limit Platforms: Narrow your request to search university email only and exclude other collaboration and messaging platforms.
Please simply respond to this request and let us know if you are willing to narrow/clarify the scope of your request in the manner suggested or in some other manner. Please note that we may be required to send some information to the Texas Attorney General for review prior to release. That process could take 2-3 months. TTUS is required to inform you that if you do not respond to this request for narrowing/clarification within 61 days from the date of this request, your request will be considered withdrawn.
Sincerely,
Brontë C. Staugaard
Assistant General Counsel
Texas Tech University System
(806) 742-2155
This communication, including any attachments, originates from an Attorney and may contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. Any review, dissemination, or copying of this communication by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail, delete and destroy all copies of the original message.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Bass <kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com<mailto:kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com>>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 8:11 PM
To: Public Info <publicinfo@ttu.edu<mailto:publicinfo@ttu.edu>>
Cc: Bentley, Eric <Eric.Bentley@ttu.edu<mailto:Eric.Bentley@ttu.edu>>; Wall, Ronny <Ronny.Wall@ttu.edu<mailto:Ronny.Wall@ttu.edu>>
Subject: TPIA Request — Targeted Communications (Designated Custodians)
[You don't often get email from kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com<mailto:kbassphiladelphia@gmail.com>. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ]
This email originated outside TTU. Please exercise caution<https://askit.ttu.edu/phishing>!
To the Public Information Officer,
Attached is my TPIA request seeking targeted emails and Teams/Slack messages referencing "Kevin Bass" or "Kevin Norris Bass" (and my email
variants) for the date range noted. Please search the custodians and systems described in the attached letter. If any portion is unclear or unduly burdensome, please identify the burden with specificity and propose narrowing consistent with Tex. Gov’t Code §§ 552.222 and 552.267.
Kevin Bass PhD MS
Phone: [REDACTED – HOME-PHONE]
Attachments¶
- 12_TPIA_D_Targeted_Comms_AGENCY.pdf (3,748 bytes)
Extracted text (click to expand)
``` October 02, 2025 Via email: Public Information Officer, Texas Tech University System — publicinfo@ttu.edu Re: Texas Public Information Act Request – Targeted Communications Referencing Kevin Norris Bass (June 1, 2023 – October 2, 2025) To the Public Information Officer: Under the Texas Public Information Act (Tex. Gov't Code ch. 552), please produce all emails (subject, body, and attachments) and Teams/SharePoint/Slack/IM/SMS messages referencing “Kevin Norris Bass” or my email variants (kevinnbass@…, kbass@…, Kevin.Bass@ttuhsc.edu), sent or received between June 1, 2023 and October 2, 2025, by the following custodians: Dr. Deborah Birx; Registrar (Amanda McSween); Financial Aid leadership; Student Affairs leadership; General Counsel liaisons for TTUHSC SOM; professionalism/SPPCC leadership; clerkship/rotation leadership and site directors/coordinators for Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Psychiatry, and Family Medicine; course administrators and scheduling coordinators; Maxient system admin; IT eDiscovery/Email Admin. Include any individual who held these roles within the date range. Search and ESI: Search agency email/document systems and collaboration/messaging platforms used for agency business (Exchange/Outlook, Teams/SharePoint, Slack, SMS/iMessage, GroupMe, WhatsApp, Signal), including agency-managed personal devices to the extent required by § 552.004/SB 944. Produce electronic records in reasonably usable format (EML/MSG/PDF■text; CSV/XLSX for metadata). Include native metadata (to/from/cc/bcc, date/time, subject, message■ID) and attachment names. Redactions/Withholding: If claiming an exception, identify the specific statutory basis and release all reasonably segregable portions. For student emails, redact personally identifiable student information under FERPA/§ 552.114 rather than withhold in full. Narrowing and costs: If any portion is unclear or unduly burdensome, please identify the burden with specificity and propose narrowing consistent with Tex. Gov [... content truncated for display ...] ```This exhibit was generated from primary email records. For redaction policy, see Redaction & Ethics Policy.