Quinn Matney, UNC Student, Allegedly Faked Hate Crime Report

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Department of Public Safety has determined that
a report of alleged aggravated assault filed by a student last week is false and the university will not be reporting it as a hate crime to the federal government.

UNC freshman Quinn Matney claimed that he was branded on his wrist by a unknown male on campus April 4. Matney, who is gay, said that the man approached him near his dorm and pressed a metal brand into his wrist while uttering a gay slur. The student said the third- and fourth-degree burns from the brand caused him to lose feeling in his fingers. (See pictures of the burn here.)

Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, confirmed to the Daily Tar Heel that Matney falsified his report.

“The aggravated assault did not take place,” Crisp said, adding that he believes no one other than Matney acted dishonestly.

UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp sent out the following alert to students Tuesday:

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:

The Department of Public Safety has determined that the alleged aggravated assault reported to campus last night did not occur. That report, filed with campus police on April 5, was false. The University will not report it as a hate crime.

It is important to recognize that incidents of harassment do occur. When they do, we take them seriously. We strive to foster a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment at Carolina.

We recognize that this has been a difficult time for campus. Members of the community who feel they need to discuss what has happened are encouraged to contact the Dean of Students Office at 919-966-4042; Counseling and Wellness Services at 919-966-3658 or 919-966-2281 after hours; LGBTQ Center at 919-843-5376; Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at 919-962-6962; or Human Resources' Employee Assistance Program at 919-929-2362.

Officials did not comment on why Matney falsified the report, but said the student will probably be charged for his actions.

Matney remains enrolled at the university. Read our original report on this story here.

Comments

[Manny Laureano]

10:08 AM on 04/18/2011

"Oh, Tawana... I'd like you to meet my friend Quinn."

[BlackRabbit]

12:54 PM on 04/16/2011

What was particularly egregious is that some online student newspapers censored comments that were skeptical of the alleged assault, in the name of tolerance I suppose.

[joshieboyucla]

03:25 PM on 04/15/2011

Just goes to show that homosexuality is an illness, a disorder, yet everyone has been conditioned to think it's something else. Ask yourselves why.

[HayleyMalfoy Doorman]

06:58 AM on 04/17/2011

Or maybe you're a bigot who believes one homosexual person's act reflects that of the whole LGBT community.

[Henry Juhala]

03:43 PM on 04/19/2011

The following groups and associations respectfully disagree with you as do I.

American Medical Association,
American Medical Student Association,
American Psychological Association,
World Health Organization,
American Academy of Pediatrics,
Child Welfare League of America,
American Bar Association,
National Association of Social Workers,
North American Council on Adoptable Children,
American Psychoanalytic Association,
American Academy of Family Physicians,
California NAACP,
Constitutional Accountability Center,
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy,
Council on Child and Adolescent Health,
American Association of Pastoral Counselors,
American Law Institute,
American Civil Liberties Union,
Anti-Defamation League,
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
Mental Health America,
California Psychological Association,
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund,
American Counseling Association,
California Teachers' Association,
Asian Law Caucus, American Sociological Association,
National Black Justice Coalition,
South Asian Bar Association of Northern California,
American Anthropological Association,
Asian American Justice Center,
Asian Pacific American Bar Association,
Asian Pacific Legal Center,
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights,
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees,
National Federation of Federal Employees,
Japanese American Bar Association,
Southern Poverty Law Center,
Religious Society of Friends,
California Council of Churches,
Faith in America,
Human Rights Watch,
Working Families Win,
Asian Pacific American Legal Center,
Association of Certified Family Law Specialists,
League of Women Voters,
American Association of School Administrators,
American Federation of Teachers,
American School Health Association,
Interfaith Alliance Foundation,
National Association of School Psychologists,
National Education Association,

Not to mention countless universities, local governments, and virtually every human rights organization that exists.

[nuclearenergy]

10:05 AM on 04/22/2011

Many such as AMA believe in free will to taking part in homosexual activities yet are hostile to repair therapy to treat homosexuality for homosexuals & lesbians who want to be straight-people who take part in homosexual activities have higher copathologies. Why people turn out homosexual behaviorally speaking is complex & complicated.

With biology they don't know if it's genes, hormones, etc. but people do choose sexual activities-both straight & homosexual. I've never heard straights blame sex abuse for the reason a man is married to a woman with kids or for engaing in straight sex activities. But homosexuals & lesbians blame childhood sex abuse for adult homosexuality. If a boy is homosexually raped, the likelihood is more that he'll take engage in homosexual activities in adulthood because of how the abuse impacted sexuality. Some women say that they choose to be lesbians because being raped in their youth caused them to hate men, that they take part in lesbian activities in adulthood. You can say homosexuality is not a disease mantra-but given that some blame childhood sex abuse such as homosexual rape for adult homosexuality, it proves that adult homosexual activities are sometimes the result of something bad like people who have eating disorders, bedwetting, insomnia, etc. as a result of child abuse impacting their mind & causing them to behave in ways that they wouldn't have had they not been abused.

[Haydee Jade]

05:15 PM on 04/14/2011

A guy brands himself and claims hate crime. Kinda reminds me of the girl who doused her face with acid and the other one who punched herself, both claiming victims of hate crime. Get help before you waste limited city funds and time. For the love of all things sacred, get a hug, eat a cookie or a pint of ice cream, go talk to a shrink and stop disfiguring yourselves!

[pfz]

12:49 PM on 04/14/2011

My God that must have hurt, if this guy maimed himself in this manner he really needs some help. Hope he gets it.

[Haydee Jade]

05:16 PM on 04/14/2011

looked particularly gnarly.

[Sarah Hanviriyapunt]

02:23 AM on 04/14/2011

This guy just did a huge injustice to all GLBT who actually have hate crimes committed against them. Also, did he think that authorities would actually find someone & falsely accuse them or blame them for it? What then? Are we going to start persecuting innocent people because we're overly concerned about possible hate crimes being committed? This is just not a sign of a positive trend ... I'll definitely be following this & other similar stories .

[pfz]

12:51 PM on 04/14/2011

Well you can be assured that it hurt like hell, that type of burn is incredibly painful, he needs help not condemnation because his false claim gave the LBGT community a little sting. I'm sure the organization won't feel the affect of his wound quite like he does.

[thunder405]

11:51 PM on 04/13/2011

Crime is crime. How do you make the distinction? Anyone that physically harms another without provocation or threat is a criminal. I do not think we should be making the distinction or deciding where the motives for the crime originated. All these scenariosnthat could play out do not need special legislation...it is up for the courts and a jury of peers to decide the crime. A judge has much more discretion and experience in deciding these types of cases, why inject more legislation that only hinders the judicial process. Crime is crime, punishment can be served accordingly.

[johnnyvento]

11:28 PM on 04/13/2011

Embarrassed for my university right now.

[AllenKonigsberg]

03:44 PM on 04/14/2011

Why be embarrassed for the university? As far as I can tell, they handled this appropriately.

[SickofSockPuppets]

10:35 PM on 04/13/2011

I'm in support of hate crime laws with their stricter penalties for crimes based on racism, sexism, homophobism, or any other intolerant -ism. Many crimes have varying punishments based upon the motivation in committing that crime. Somebody who casually plots and carries out a murder is punished more harshly than somebody who accidentally and unintentionally kills somebody.

To some extent, our laws are a reflection and announcement of our national beliefs and identity. These laws demonstrate both to ourselves and others that we're serious about trying to be a postracial society. We often fail to live up to that expectation, accepting terms like that sly, racist wink "illegals" as a sloppy and plausibly deniable shorthand for "brown people that don't speak like us." Basing the punishment and seriousness of crimes based on the victim's phenotypic race, belief system, or any other similar trait covered by hate crime laws, is a way for us to show that some behaviors are more unacceptable than normal when they transgress one of those fundamental national narratives of who we think we are and who we are trying to be.

I am in no way stating that we actually are a "postracial" (or "postsexual"(?), as I probably should show somewhere in this post that I actually read this article) society.

[MikeyJaii]

10:30 PM on 04/13/2011

The people should fake his death.

[IntNorbertCon]

10:09 PM on 04/13/2011

"Nothing happened here today, but let's use it as an opportunity to talk about all the OTHER places where things DID happen. While it's important to remember that nothing happened, it's equally important to remember that things happening are bad, and we will fight against them for as long as the cameras remain focused upon us."

[Matthew0007]

09:59 PM on 04/13/2011

Straight or gay, just another brat out looking for attention and wanting to fuel the fire that so many are trying to put out regarding hate crimes and gay/lesbian disputes. It's people like Quinn Matney that give any human a bad name.

[Rabbitvoz]

08:40 PM on 04/13/2011

False complaints of hate crimes should be dealt with as severely as the hate crime itself, or more. We have had a rash of false claims of anti-Semitism, homohphobia and sexual assaults which are increasing the more such laws are added and strengthened. Thought crimes are the thin end of the wedge of total control of people and they open the door to massive abuse by the sort of attention seeking people who often make such complaints. If it does not cause you actual loss or harm, then you have no right to call it a crime. You are just too sensitive and in a real world with real hard things in it, you are doomed to a lot of self inflicted pain until you grow up and deal with the consequences of your choices in an imperfect world.

[patrick w henry]

10:34 PM on 04/13/2011

laws against rape inevitably create opportunities for unjust, false accusations. laws against child-abuse also result in false accusations as well. surely we cannot abolish such legal protections simply because of these unfortunate instances.

but i agree that there's certainly a difference of outlooks to approach these issues. one outlook suggests a "the world is an ugly place, get used to it" approach to life that encourages toughing-up and coping with it. i also acknowledge "it's a cruel, cruel world", but then to risk speaking out and trying to contribute to positive change. and to promoting our mutual safety and security.

you say that a false report of a crime should be treated more severely than an actual, heinous crime? obviously little compassion being evidenced by that attitude, but perhaps a great deal of anger and frustration instead.

in the case of this misguided university student, i will admit that i share your disgust over his belittling the suffering of true victims to gain his 15 minutes of fame. here's hoping that he endures 15 months of shame, instead.

[thunder405]

11:55 PM on 04/13/2011

Exactly. Crime does not need these superficial categories. Either a violent crime was committed or it wasn't. Special legislation only opens the doors for greater mishaps and larger atrocities than already occur in our legal system.

[patrick w henry]

05:21 PM on 04/13/2011

who can begin to explain the US-criminal justice system & why one crime is treated severely & another crime exceedingly harsh? what anyone my age (50) can recall is the evolution of such things as mandatory-sentencing & the addition of countless charges during all prosecutions. much of this was a reaction to meager sentences being assigned to serious criminals. as a nation we should debate these issues of our judges, prisons & courts. not quite the topic here - which primarily became the suitability of hate-crimes laws.

well, as anyone as old as i can tell you, NO group of criminals got off easier than those who assaulted homosexuals! ever heard of Dan White's "twinky defense" that got him off from killing a city's mayor & city supervisor? lawyers used everything from gay-panic defenses to exploiting even a SINGLE bigot in a jury, so gay-bashers routinely received limited punishment. even if they were convicted, some Judge would impose only the most modest sentence for their crimes.

since numerous other penalty-enhancements have appeared over the years, no one should debate that this was as necessary as any of the others - perhaps more so.

i can't possibly present any original arguments that will rid anyone of blatant or latent homophobia. even well-meaning middle-of-the-roaders seem a bit too-unwilling to accept the sensibility of hate-crimes laws.

in conclusion, i deplore this young man's behavior - gotta admit the story sounded suspicious.

[patrick w henry]

06:10 PM on 04/13/2011

oops - my opening sentence was intended to draw attention to crimes that are NOT treated seriously versus those where the sentences seem harsh.

definitely appreciate your consideration of my opinions.

[thunder405]

12:04 AM on 04/14/2011

Crime is crime and violence is violence. We live in a different world, not perfect, but aware of such malintention. Hate crime is an oxymoron to some extent. Any individual disturbed enough to commit unprovoked violence deserves harsh treatment. Why should we interject legislation that removes judicial discretion from so many cases of violence and blanket them under some feel-good laws. These laws do not change anything for the better, they only open the system up to more abuse than it already experiences. You may have experienced a different time and culture than some younger folks. Violence out of the context of military, self defense, or protection is all hate to some extent. Why legislate some topical clarification that has no real, positive effect? People wi enough hate to commit these kind of crimes are not turned off by legislation. After all, we already have legislation against such assault. The end game here is political clout and moral posturing, nothing more.

[bobby cormier]

04:07 PM on 04/13/2011

there ARE such things as hate crimes that ADD to the already horrible reality of any crime. like, a person is assaulted or killed because they are a bystander in a robbery. or the same happens because they are the victim of that robbery. this is all awful stuff because there are options in our society where some people have no normal respect for human life. they are deranged. but, add to that the sytematic hatred that many have for a person's status of whatever kind and you're in hitler territory. and i think we can agree that this is even more horrible. scapegoating and violent crime for no other reason than hatred for who or what a person is, is ESPECIALLY sick and deranged. like i said, hitler time. having said that, i agree that this student is especially sick and deranged also and must face up to the concequences of his actions fully. he's a sad, sad excuse of a young man.