There are lessons to be learned from the Yik Yak fiasco, where a supposed threat posted to a Michigan Tech-related social media account caused undue alarm and outrage across the campus, overreaction by university officials to a doctored post and a miscarriage of justice.

The first mistake was one of judgment by Matthew Schultz, the third-year Tech student who, during a time when death threats against black people were being made at other college campuses, posted to Yik Yak: “Gonna shoot all black people ……. a smile tomorrow” followed by a smiley-face emoji.

With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, it’s difficult to understand the reasoning behind that provocation. Schultz surely did not intend the consequences that followed, starting with the so-called “editing” of the post, which was shortened to “Gonna shoot all black people,” which is what unversity officials and police first received.

Without taking a figurative breath, the university’s initial response was to pound the panic buttion. Here again, the context of what was happening at the University of Missouri sheds light on that action: Three days earlier, the president and chancellor resigned amid intense pressure and protests that they had done too little to address racism on campus.

So Tech officials were intent on demonstrating responsiveness, but again, with 20-20 hindsight, they went way over the top – getting the identity of the perpetrator from Yik Yak and apparently not even confirming the veracity of the apparent threat or verifying the version.

Cooler heads should have prevailed in the Administration Building and at the Department of Public Safety and Police Services, where a report stated Schultz had taken down the post himself as evidence he believed he had committed a crime. This kind of evidence, some of it tainted, was passed to the Houghton County prosecutor, which made the case for the initial charge of domestic terrorism.

Communities of the campus, city, county and region twisted in the wind of uncertainty during the subsequent days and weeks of the investigation, as the charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor and eventually dismissed. This would not have gone on so long if the public, through its media agents, had access to police reports, which are considered public records in most other states. Michigan is one of the least transparent states in the union when it comes to public access to public records. Who polices this in Michigan? Nobody.

Even as the case for domestic terrorism was collapsing like a house of cards, the MTU administration actually doubled-down on punishing Schultz. After conceding the university’s responses were triggered before the discovery of the doctored post, in a decision as incredible as the threat, the administration upgraded the sanction from suspension to expulsion – in an appeal hearing. That’s like getting probation for a crime you’re not guilty of, and then getting 10 years in prison on appeal.

Such a draconian response after a series of missteps smacks of spitefulness. It’s hard to see how that position will help the unversity in defending the civil rights suit Schultz has filed – except as a starting point for settlement negotiations.

A Daily Mining Gazette editorial