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Student fabricates burglary, throws campus in lockdown |
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
 Senior English major Matthew W. Haney looks on with Master Police Officer T.J. Proffit as Sgt. Jim Wilson examines a broken piece of the door frame from the alleged burglary at an Appalachian South apartment Monday. Photo by Derek DeSha
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by CLAIR BAXTER
Editor-in-Chief
by JAMISON DORAN
News Editor
It all came down to a damaged door.
That is what caused senior English major Matthew W. Haney to fabricate the story of a gunman in his apartment, sending the campus of Appalachian State University to a frenzy, which caused the first lockdown in school history.
“Monday’s incident was not funny, it was not funny at all,” Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock said. “It was
very serious... When a university cancels classes, cancels a faculty forum lecture with a distinguished
guest on campus and puts fear in the hearts of our students and our faculty and our staff, [there is]
nothing funny about it at all."
Matt Stevens, detective with the Boone Police Department, said Haney returned to his apartment at
around 3:15 p.m. Monday to find his door damaged. Worried he would be charged for the damage, he
went to the Appalachian South Management office to report to personnel his apartment had been
broken into.
 Officers survey the grounds of the apartment of senior English major Matthew W. Haney (r) Monday afternoon. Photo by Derek DeSha
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“Haney maintains that he returned to his apartment to find his door broken and was worried he would be charged for the damage,” Stevens said.
From there Haney embellished the story to include that he had witnessed a burglar and that the burglar
was carrying a handgun, Stevens said.
Personnel at Appalachian South Management declined to comment other than to say Haney came to
the office, reported the burglary and then used the office’s phone to call the police.
Boone and University Police arrived on the scene at 3:47 p.m. after receiving the call Haney placed at
3:42 p.m.
After talking to Haney, both Boone and University Police believed there was enough of a threat to alert
the university.
The first campus-wide alert came out at 4:11 p.m. and the lockdown occurred at 5:10 p.m. after a
student reported seeing a person that matched the suspect’s description on Sanford Mall.
The lockdown was cancelled at 6:32 p.m. after university administrators and University Police decided it was best to let students, faculty and staff return home while it was still light out.
Buildings, other than residence halls, closed for the evening.
Tuesday morning, Stevens went to Haney’s apartment to ask him a couple follow-up questions.
A few things didn’t seem to add up, and while his story wasn’t doubted at this point, Boone Police wanted to clear some things up, Stevens said.
Haney went to the Boone Police station and at first maintained his story about the gunman, but finally admitted he had fabricated the entire story.
“I don’t think he believed it would escalate to the extent that it did, but he was given every opportunity
to stop it from spiraling out of control,” Stevens said.
Haney hasn’t been charged yet, but is expected to be charged by the Boone Police Department at
some point over the next few days with one count of filing a false police report, which is a
misdemeanor, Stevens said.
According to the Office of Student Conduct, Haney may also face university sanctions, which could
include community service, probation and suspension. He will be asked to appear in front of the judicial
board.
 A Boone Police vehicle sits at Appalachian South apartment complex - the location of Monday’s fabricated break-in. Photo by Derek DeSha
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“Most [students] initially say he should be gone. They’re very mad,” Student Government Association President Forrest S. Gilliam said.
“[Haney] is currently not on campus this week, which was a decision made by the university for his
best interests,” Vice Chancellor for Student Development Cindy Wallace said. “It has not yet been determined when, or if, he is going to return.”
Wallace said action against Haney has not yet been decided, but it will depend on whether or not he has violated expectations that are present in the Code of Student Conduct.
“It is important that we follow due process. It is a fundamental right of citizens of the United States,”
she said.
Wallace said while the university lost money due to the hoax, the exact dollar amount may never be
known.
“I don’t think we could ever determine the true cost of this,” she said. “Lots of people worked over time
to ensure their co-workers were safe…The university lost the ability to do certain things. We couldn’t
have our scheduled speaker, Nell Painter, perform and to my knowledge we will not get the money
back for that. Also, food services had to close early and the police personnel had a higher presence on
campus and worked overtime.”
Even though the situation turned out to be fabricated, Wallace said this was a “great drill without risk to
an individual” and while some things went smoothly others need to be addressed.
“I feel like we took the right steps and we would definitely do the same thing again given the
information we had,” she said.
However, there are some things that need to be changed.
Administrators met Tuesday to discuss ways in which the university could handle situations such as this better.
Some of the issues that were discussed included having more faculty training, making sure to get out
the most accurate information possible and creating a system to have plenty of land lines available for
students during emergencies.
“We need to educate the campus on what a lockdown actually means, and we need to train faculty and
staff in what to do in a situation like this,” Wallace said.
She said she was pleased with the emergency alert and the direct line of contact the university had
with police.
“We’re lucky to have such a direct line of communication with law enforcement…And that is something
that I don’t think a lot of other campuses have,” she said.
The university will continue to discuss safety issues on campus at safety task force meetings and
different committee meetings, Wallace said.
“What is important is that we took this threat seriously, and while some improvements can always be
made, I believe we really did a good job at responding to the possible threat.”
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