“Rough ’em up, rough ’em up, BC sucks!”

If you’re a Boston University men’s hockey fan, something about this cheer probably seems a little off. Normally, it would feature a certain four-letter word. But the traditional version — along with other, similarly offensive chants — was banned from the BU student sections during Saturday’s regional final against Boston College at Worcester’s DCU Center, a game that was broadcast nationally on ESPNU. After students shouted the chants the previous night against the University of Nebraska-Omaha, NCAA officials didn’t want them being heard by a national audience two nights in a row. “Please take a moment to consider the way in which you show your enthusiasm at the game tonight,” read a flyer written by Athletics Director Mike Lynch.

The authorities were right to try to put a stop to the vulgar cheers. Like Red Sox fans’ references to supposed sexual acts by Yankees players, these words don’t have any place in the family-friendly atmosphere of a sporting event — even less so when that event is being watched across the country. Moreover, when heard by those who haven’t been to BU hockey games before, the chants reflect poorly on the university and its students.

Yet we can’t deny that dirty chants are, for better or worse, a part of the tradition at BU hockey games, and it would be a shame to do away with them altogether. Sometimes it’s just plain fun to get all fired up and drop an f-bomb against the opposing team — especially when that team is archrival Boston College. The chants are a way for the student population to unite against a common enemy. They may, in the end, be kind of stupid — but shouldn’t college students be allowed a few moments of stupidity from time to time?

There has been some talk of banning offensive cheers even at home games at Agganis Arena, but this would be an unfair imposition on BU students. After all, being rude in someone else’s home is one thing; being rude is your own home is entirely different. If the student section is to keep its community intact and maintain any sense of tradition from year to year, the cheers should be allowed on BU’s home turf, as well as other arenas within Hockey East.

Students should be commended for their willingness to respect the wishes of the NCAA this weekend by playing nice in the DCU Center. But when the Terriers take the ice again next season, BU students should have the right to use their favorite cheers once again.