When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called out Boise State University by name in a Tuesday speech as one of many American universities he contended was wrongly restricting free speech in an attempt to accommodate “political correctness” and be a “shelter for fragile egos,” BSU begged to differ. Sessions pointed to a portion of the school’s student code of conduct which prohibits “conduct that a reasonable person would find offensive” as proof – but university officials say that applies to disorderly conduct, including lewd acts – not to speech.

Here is BSU’s full response to  Sessions; the Idaho Statesman has a full report here: 

University leaders at Boise State could not agree more that a "university is about the search for truth, not the imposition of truth by a government censor," as Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. But the student policy he referred to doesn't sanction offensive speech, but disorderly conduct, including "[c]onduct that a reasonable person would find offensive such as lewd, indecent, obscene, or profane actions." That policy also specifically recognizes, in its very first section, that “students enjoy the same freedoms of speech, peaceful assembly, and right of petition that all citizens enjoy” and clearly states that “nothing in the Student Code of Conduct shall infringe on rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.”

Boise State recently spent over a year revising its policies that implicate free expression — in partnership with both the conservative Idaho Freedom Foundation and the Idaho branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. Boise State is committed to supporting free expression and “the only limits on this expression are to avoid conflict with the normal uses of the campus, the rights of others, and the limitations of lawful conduct,” as stated in university policy. We continuously review and revise our policies as necessary to ensure that commitment.