HOUGHTON – A former Michigan Technological University student expelled from the university after a social media post investigated as threatening broke his silence Thursday with a press conference as part of an effort to clear his name.

Matthew Schultz, 22, who filed a suit in federal court against the university Tuesday, talked about his life since Nov. 12, when he made a post on the Yik Yak app that said “Gonna shoot all black people ……. a smile tomorrow” followed by a smile emoji. The posts are visible to people with the app who are within a 5-mile radius.

“Let’s just say I’m thankful I have a job still,” he said. “Right when it happened, I didn’t really go out in public much, because I would get noticed. I had nicknames that no one wants to have.”

He filed the suit against Michigan Tech and several administrators and personnel, as well as Ryan Grainger, a former Tech student who posted original and manipulated screenshots of Schultz’s post on his Twitter account. The edited version, which Grainger sent to MTU Public Safety and posted on Twitter in a tweet directed at MTU and Les Cook, Tech’s vice president for student advancement and affairs, lopped off everything after the ellipses.

“The entire time this was happening to me, I was always left confused,” Schultz said. “There was something I didn’t know. I didn’t know how to react or defend myself, so I just sat there as an innocent man, which I knew I did nothing wrong, with full faith in the judicial system. But I would ask questions, and they wouldn’t answer me. No one would really tell me anything. They put me in cuffs twice, told me I made threats. I’d tell them I didn’t. But the complete lack of ethical and moral values in Michigan Tech’s administration is disturbing.”

Pence, an attorney who is a family friend of the Schultzes, said he is unsure what the outcome of the suit will be, but said it was a way to get the word out about the incident. With Schultz’s point of view out there, he said, Schultz might begin the process of applying to other universities.

“I want the truth to be known,” said Allen Schultz, Schultz’s father. “I want people to know what my son did, what MTU did, what Ryan Grainger did.”

Paul Tomasi, attorney for the university, declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal proceedings. He said Tech would be filing a response to the complaint, but could not give a timetable.

Schultz said he still has a relationship with the several black and biracial members of his family, who he said have had no problem with the incident.

“They all shook their head at it immediately,” he said.

Asked if he had heard opinions of any black members of the Tech community after the original post was released, Schultz said he had not, as he had been barred from campus after the incident. Schultz’s mother, Kristel Schultz, said he had sent a letter explaining himself to Tech’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

Schultz denied a statement in a Michigan Tech police report that he had taken down the post himself because he believed it was wrong. Yik Yak allows for any user to remove a post by flagging it. Schultz and Pence, contend that Grainger was responsible for the removal.

In an earlier interview, former MTU Public Safety Chief Dan Bennett said upon receiving the initial post, he and other officials had interpreted the original wording as “gonna shoot all black people and smile about it tomorrow.” A campus-wide alert was sent after both posts alerting people to a threat made against black people on campus that made no mention of the wording of the threat.

Schwartz said he had no racist intent behind the post.

“I meant it directly as it says, to shoot a smile at someone,” he said. “Other people’s opinions, I can’t really speak for.”

Schultz was arrested after the incident on a charge of domestic terrorism, a 20-year felony. The charge brought was a 90-day misdemeanor, disturbing the peace. Prosecutor Michael Makinen later dismissed the charge

Schultz was first given an 18-month suspension from the university, which was changed to a full expulsion after his appeal.