Parents around the country are joining forces on the Internet to keep tabs on their college students through the use of roundtables or chat rooms, but ISU officials said such situations would not be positive.Parents at several colleges and universities such as Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., have developed e-mail listservs on the Internet. Other universities also use chat room-type Web sites that allow parents to discuss aspects of the school, including the personal lives of students.In addition, the groups have been known to focus on dorm life. If students share any aspect of dorm life with their parents, the information can become public as soon as the parents log on.Currently, there is no roundtable set up for ISU parents, and some students and faculty said they hope it stays that way.”To a degree, these roundtables have uninformed people responding to uninformed people,” said Virginia Arthur, assistant director of residence. “It perpetuates rumors and inaccurate information.”Students said they see the discussions as an invasion of their privacy.”I’m an adult now whether [my parents] like it or not, and what I do at school is really none of their business,” said Andy Gilds, sophomore in pre-computer science.Some students said they see the roundtables as an attempt of parents to continue having control over their children after they leave home.”My parents have very little say in what I do in college. They should understand that college is a time for their son or daughter to branch out in the world, away from parents,” said Justin Pfeffer, sophomore in computer engineering.Other students said having a parent involved in a discussion group would damage their relationship.”Students would be less likely to tell their parents what is really going on if they didn’t think the information would be kept confidential,” said Dana Hansen, freshman in chemical engineering. “Personally, I wouldn’t be able to talk to my parents as much.”Barb Peavey, mother of Megan Peavey, sophomore in animal science/preveterinary, said she would consider logging into a roundtable discussion with parents of other ISU students.”I think there’s always concerns with some of the situations or unfairness — I think that it has some potential,” said Peavey, resident of DeWitt. “I think that any kind of support group is nice.”Arthur said Iowa State has taken many steps to ensure that parents have adequate access to information about the university.”Our institution is very responsive when a parent calls,” she said. “We provide options for parents who want information or have any questions about the university and are more than willing to answer any questions they ask.”Iowa State is also careful to protect students’ rights.”We pay a great deal of attention to parent questions, but we also pay a great deal of attention to the confidentiality of students,” Arthur said. “If the student is over 18, we can’t give specific information about the student to parents.”Arthur said the university has other ways for parents to learn about Iowa State.”The Parent’s Association and the Department of Residence have numbers parents can call for accurate information,” she said. “On the surface, I don’t think a roundtable has much to offer.”