I wanted to chime in with some advice that also can help in
any situation involving long administrative processes. I'm sorry you're going through this and I really hope some of this can be helpful.
- Write stuff down! A paper trail is helpful both to prevent hearsay and keep your own timeline of events in check. Recency bias and the like are too common in stressful situations.
- Remember that you are one (1) human who needs food, sleep, and water.
- Reach out to the Ombud (at the HUB), professors, and other administrators you may know. Even within one department there can be mixups -- nevermind when university-wide policies (such as registration) come into play. Having someone who can help point you in the right direction will be invaluable.
- On that note, the HUB has free legal services; for better or worse, you aren't the first student to be in this position.
- I understand in another comment you said you're confident in UW Leadership's ability, but crucially, there is no such thing as a singular leadership. At a university that large, *even when everyone is working to help*, things can turn out bad. (It's like how a CEO can get fired and nothing changes at a company; the system has its own momentum.) It's hard to say what level of intervention needs to happen to resolve this -- School of CSE? Undergrad CS department? Registrar? UW President's Office? -- and each level will likely not know what the level above/around them can do.
- (And if you do need to escalate, it might be worth reaching out to the Registrar's office directly, over email. I say this because they work at a university-wide level, separate from any school or department, and may have a more-final say on what any individual branch can do/not do w.r.t. your enrollment.)
- Hanlon's razor, or more optimistically, "assume good intention". Always. Even when someone has stated not-good intention. This will help in a few ways: keeping your tone cordial, clearing up miscommunication. Maybe someone genuinely misunderstands what you built, or has pressure on
their end to uphold some policy, however arcane. But most importantly, this will give yourself a way to not feel cornered, and distance your day-to-day/identity/etc. from this situation.
- Remember that you are (likely still) one (1) human who needs food, sleep, and water. Those damn robots won't take over yet.
- Be careful what you post publicly! There is a reason the best PR teams stay silent. Less is more. Form a close group of people you trust to share information freely, and be very clear (to yourself) what your intention is with every public post. Is it to get validation/advice? Is it to put pressure on the university? The court of public opinion is a double edged sword! Not every interpretation needs to or will be true. (And employers, like the public, might interpret this situation positively or negatively. It's hard to say which way it will go!)