The University of West Alabama strives to ensure that students, faculty, and staff have the right and means to open access to ideas and information fundamental to and constitutionally protected in our democratic society. The University will protect intellectual and academic freedom, encourage lifelong learning, and provide services supporting open access to information, including chat rooms. Chat rooms enable the University to provide information that otherwise is not available on campus. They allow access to ideas, information, and commentary from around the globe. While the resources available through chat rooms are significant, these resources are designed for a highly diverse user population with highly diverse information needs. Chat rooms are an unregulated medium. As such, while they offer access to a wealth of materials that may be personally, professionally, and culturally enriching to individuals of all ages, they also enable access to information that may be erroneous, out-of-date, illegal, offensive, controversial, or sexually explicit. In accessing chat rooms, the users must exert their responsibility as discriminating information users by constantly questioning the validity and appropriateness of information available from the rooms, just as they question the appropriateness and validity of any other information they may use for instructional and research purposes.