Iowa State students are having a tough month. Our men’s basketball team loses to Michigan State, our women’s team loses to Penn State, and our state legislators are trying to strip us of our rights, one by one.

The NCAA Selection Committee can be forgiven, and the referees officiating the games can be forgotten. After all, basketball is only a game.

But Iowa legislators — they’re another story.

On the front page of Friday’s Daily, you may have seen a article about the Iowa House of Representatives passing a bill allowing state colleges and universities to notify parents if their adult children are caught drinking underage or using illegal drugs.

This bill is an amended version of the bill banning alcohol from the dorm rooms of state colleges by Iowa State’s favorite legislator, Rep. Rosemary Thomson. The bill passed the House during spring break by an overwhelming margin of 86-2.

Of course, students — or anyone else, for that matter — don’t have the right to break state and federal laws pertaining to drugs and alcohol.

But that’s not the point. The point is that students do have the right to keep details of their lives hidden if they so desire. The point is that legislators don’t have the right to assume parental duties for state university students.

The point is that adult students are just that — adults.

Just as in the alcohol ban bill, our state legislators have their hearts in the right place. They’re trying to look out for students.

But, just as in the alcohol ban bill, they’ve abandoned the use of their heads.

The reasoning behind the parental notification bill is that parents contribute to the financing of their children’s education, so they should have the right to know everything about that education. If the kids get in trouble, parents have paid for the right to know.

That reasoning is almost logical. But not quite.

When we fill out our FAFSAs every year, we have to list tax and cash flow information about ourselves and, if we can be claimed as dependents, our parents. That information is used to determine how much students and parents can afford to pay toward students’ education. How much our families can pay is a major determinant in how much financial aid we receive.

Now I couldn’t find any concrete numbers on how many parents actually do contribute to their kids’ college costs, but I can give you one good example of a set of parents who don’t.

Mine.

My parents decided long before I filled out my first FAFSA that I needed to put myself through school. They each figured out a way to earn both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees without their parents’ help, and they figured I could too. They wanted me to earn my degree — not just be handed it — and they thought I would appreciate it more if I did.

The thing is, I think my parents were right. I’m glad that I had to work hard in high school to earn collegiate scholarships, and I’m glad I understand what it means to go to a job every day to earn enough to make my car payments. I’ll probably do exactly the same with my own kids.

But, even though my family sees me as very independent when it comes to my schooling, Rep. Thomson and the rest of the legislators don’t see me any differently than someone who’s being financed exclusively by mommy and daddy.

Even though I’ve made it on my own without familial financial support, I cannot legally declare myself independent of my parents. For that to happen, according to the Department of Education, I have to do one of the following:

* turn 24;

* get married;

* enroll in a graduate or professional educational program (beyond a bachelor’s degree);

* have legal dependents other than a spouse;

* become an orphan or ward of the court (or were a ward of the court until age 18); or

* become a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

I could also prove some sort of irreconcilable spilt between myself and my parents. If I can’t prove that, I’m a dependent.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking for the right to keep things like drug arrests hidden from my parents. Truth be told, if I were ever arrested for something like that, they would probably be the first people I called. (Although I can’t get college money from them, I’m not above asking mom and dad for bail.)

But I get to make that choice — not Iowa State’s dean of students. And certainly not my state legislator.

I’m 22 years old, and I have the right to decide for myself whether I make that call.

When parents decide how much they will give to their children for college, they have the right to choose whatever amount they want. Even if the government expects them to contribute, they don’t have to. It’s their right.

We as adults at college have the right to decide what to tell our parents, no matter how much money they’ve given us or what the government expects us to tell them.

These kinds of rights are fundamental to Iowa citizens. If our legislators take them away from us, what do we have left?

No basketball loss is as important as the loss of our rights.

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Sara Ziegler is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, S.D. She is editor in chief of the Daily, and she skipped class to go see the men in Detroit. Tell that to her parents!