>This platform was never intended to be monetized, and I am not planning to get a lawyer involved as I have faith that UW leadership will make it right in the end.
So, they
- gave you an ultimatum for a project you personally worked on
- you complied
- they soft-expelled you anyway
- they coerced you under this expulsion to do free labor to improve their own site.
- heck, you are paying 10's of thousands to them to attend school. So you are paying them for the privilege to work on their site so you can be re-instated into school to out you into debt.
I've worked in the game industry for some 9 years now. Your talent is being exploited. I'm not going to tell you to sue, but you should definitely cut all ties immediately and find another school ID this is how they are treating their budding talent. They clearly have no respect for you. This happens all the time in my industry full of passionate talent. You gotta look out for yourself first before you dedicate yourself to others.
EDIT: Ahh, I see you're almost graduating. In that case just do what you can to get back in and get far away. But do NOT provide any free labor for them. I don't know the exact ideas but you may at least want a Lawyer to send a warning shot. This feels like coercion, but I can't say for sure.
So, they
- gave you an ultimatum for a project you personally worked on
- you complied
- they soft-expelled you anyway
- they coerced you under this expulsion to do free labor to improve their own site.
- heck, you are paying 10's of thousands to them to attend school. So you are paying them for the privilege to work on their site so you can be re-instated into school to out you into debt.
I've worked in the game industry for some 9 years now. Your talent is being exploited. I'm not going to tell you to sue, but you should definitely cut all ties immediately and find another school ID this is how they are treating their budding talent. They clearly have no respect for you. This happens all the time in my industry full of passionate talent. You gotta look out for yourself first before you dedicate yourself to others.
EDIT: Ahh, I see you're almost graduating. In that case just do what you can to get back in and get far away. But do NOT provide any free labor for them. I don't know the exact ideas but you may at least want a Lawyer to send a warning shot. This feels like coercion, but I can't say for sure.