[UPDATE Jan 10, 2025 12:14P M. Kaim posted a followup to LinkedIn: "The university has determined that I have satisfactorily complied with their request to take down the site, and I've said publicly that I do not plan to pursue anything like HuskySwap, so the hold has been removed without a meeting and I am back on track to graduate next quarter. I have thanked them for closing the matter."]
[UPDATE Jan 10, 2025L 12:23 PM. A University of Washington spokesperson commented on yesterday's change to its registration policy: The timing of the update to the policy's website was unfortunate, given the interest in the topic at the moment due to recent social media posts. However, the update was only intended to further clarify the policy and is not an addition to the policy. The UW clearly prohibits any tampering with the registration process, including holding, trading or selling spots in a class. This is a matter of fairness to all students. We are aware that students with higher registration priority will register for a class with no intention of taking it, and then sell the spot to someone else. This is a violation of policy, and any service or process that facilitates such activity is also prohibited. Registration for spring quarter begins on Feb. 13, therefore any holds lifted before that date would not negatively affect a student's academic progress or their ability to register for classes."]
JD Kaim, a University of Washington Computer Science student built a class-trading application for students to swap course spots. He claims the school threatened him with potential expulsion and an ultimatum to make a similar solution for the university without compensation.
Kaim created "HuskySwap" as part of his CSE 403 coursework — a platform designed to help students find partners to trade spots in filled classes. The project earned course credit and positive feedback from peers. But when Kaim requested API access to automate course catalog data, rather than manually entering classes, he said he received a "Notice of Violation of Registration Tampering Abuse Policy" demanding he take down even the demo site's sample data.
"I was instructed to take down my demo site or else they would begin the process that would culminate with my expulsion," Kaim wrote in a LinkedIn post. "I had originally reached out hoping to make the school experience better for everyone and they immediately went nuclear."
The situation escalated when, according to Kaim's follow-up post, administrators placed a hold on his account that would prevent him from registering for his final quarter — effectively expelling him unless he agreed to develop a similar tool for the university without compensation while surrendering the intellectual property rights.
Legal experts commenting on LinkedIn have suggested the university's apparent attempt to leverage academic standing to obtain free development work could constitute extortion. "This is textbook extortion and falls under a number of different torts," noted attorney Abtin Forouzandeh Tabrizi in response to Kaim's post. Multiple commenters urged the student to seek legal counsel and contact media outlets.
Boing Boing reached out to the University of Washington to ask about its position on these claims. Specifically, we asked for clarification on any relevant policies regarding student-developed applications and information about how UW typically handles student innovations that relate to university operations.
Here's the University of Washington spokesperson's response, sent by email:
Thanks for your inquiry and for the opportunity to clarify this situation and our general approach to potential student conduct violations. Federal law does not allow UW to comment on matters regarding specific students, but I can provide some general information regarding UW policy and practice.
Since you asked about swapping classes, I will tell you that students are reminded at the start of each academic year that trading, selling, or buying spots is a breach of the Registration Tampering Abuse Policy. Consequences may include referral to the Student Code of Conduct process, a Registrar's Hold on their record, and potential diploma withholding for graduating students until the conduct process is complete.
On occasion, the Registrar will place a temporary registration hold in order to prompt a meeting with a student about a potential policy violation. This is standard practice.
The Office of the University Registrar does not oversee Student Code of Conduct processes. Any corrective actions are only considered once a student conduct investigation has been completed and there has been a finding of wrongdoing. The Office of the University Registrar does not make threats regarding disciplinary action, other than to state what potential consequences could be for violating policy.
Furthermore, the UW cannot and would not aim to effectively steal intellectual property from a student. There have been instances where a student's class project has turned into a potentially useful tool that UW-IT could help them develop into something that could serve other students. In any such case, appropriate partnership, ownership or credit for such a collaboration would be determined jointly with the student.
In a follow-up email, the spokesperson said, "It's important to note that the restriction on trading or selling class registration spots is a matter of maintaining a fair process for all students."
Kaim's latest LinkedIn post claims the language about registration tampering and abuse policies was added to the university's website only after the controversy began:
Today UW issued an official statement that was obviously targeting me and sent it to the media. In their statement they point to the "Tampering & Abuse" policies outlined on the registrar's website. This is presumably to draw attention to this emphasized text: "Additionally, the creation of any service that enables any of the above behaviors is strictly forbidden and constitutes a violation of this policy."
But this afternoon a university employee reached out to let me know that this text was literally added today. You can confirm for yourself by looking at the previous version (December 8 until today) at https://lnkd.in/ge4XCh8Z.
Some people have been understandably skeptical about my story. This development doesn't provide evidence to refute their claims, but this should give you some context on how they're treating me.
I just want them to remove my registration hold so I can graduate after next quarter and move on with my life.
But I am definitely not meeting with the administration for a disciplinary struggle session when I am more confident than ever that I haven't violated any rules.
Kaim is correct. The new language was introduced sometime after December 8, 2024, which the is most recent saved version on the Internet Archive.
Kaim states he has removed the demo site but remains uncertain about his academic future just months before his planned graduation.
