An autistic student, previously expelled from his college for mistakenly hugging a stranger, has been reinstated.

Brian Ferguson, a 20-year-old with autism attending special-needs classes at Navarro College in Texas, had been expelled for sexual assault. But what he did that constitutes sexual assault will leave you scratching your head.

Ferguson is 6’5” and gives hugs to his friends with a kiss on the top of their head since he towers over them. A week ago, that got him expelled. The problem arose when Ferguson thought he saw a woman he recognized and gave her one of his trademark greetings — except that the woman was a stranger.

"And then [the school] labeled it 'sexual assault' because of the kissing,” Ferguson’s mother, Staci Martin, told NBC. “They said a kiss is considered an assault."

I’ve previously warned that absurdly vague definitions of consent causing young men to rethink even kissing a woman for fear of being accused of sexual assault, and Ferguson’s story illustrates that the fear is not unfounded.

After the story gained national attention, Navarro College administrators agreed to allow Ferguson back into school.

The woman who received Ferguson's hug, Taylor Bruton, said she thought the punishment was too severe. "I didn't want him to get in trouble, special needs or not,” said Taylor Bruton. “I didn't want anyone to get in trouble, not over a hug.”

She said the kiss was nothing more than a "peck" and that she tried to tell school administrators, who saw the hug, that it wasn't a big deal. "They asked me about the incident,” Bruton told a Texas NBC affiliate. "I explained what happened and I told them, 'It's not a big deal. I don't want anyone to get in trouble and I don't feel the need to report this.' And they asked me for a written statement, just in case."

When she found out that Ferguson had been expelled over the incident, she thought it was "ridiculous."

Bruton and Ferguson met this week and exchanged gifts. They even hugged.

"You can give me a hug,” Bruton told Ferguson. “It’s OK.”

Colleges have not only been ineffective in adjudicating sexual assault, but they seem to be uniquely lacking in common sense when the issue arises, as Ferguson's story illustrates. Luckily, sanity prevailed in his case. It doesn't always, though.