UW student received academic hold for course swap app
A University of Washington computer science student recently received a hold on his academic record after developing a digital tool that helps students swap spots in classes during the enrollment period.
KING 5 reported that JD Kaim developed the tool, called HuskySwap, as part of a software engineering course. UW administrators asked him to take it offline, which he did, but the hold was not removed until after he promised that he would not continue the tool’s development.
“Final update,” Kaim wrote in a post on LinkedIn Saturday. “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.”
Kaim told the local news outlet that he’d effectively received a “soft expulsion” for creating a tool that would have helped more students enroll in the classes they wanted. According to Kaim, the website “was a simple app designed to help students find partners to trade spots in critical classes after they filled up.”
But school administrators said the tool violated a UW registration policy pertaining to the use of automated tools for enrollment.
On LinkedIn, Kaim thanked those who had provided him with moral support.
“My friends have been there for me, and I never expected people who didn’t even know me to reach out with so much encouragement. It’s been an overwhelming experience and I’m going to grow from it,” he wrote.
