Lucas Campbell, an information science junior at Michigan State University, built Spartan Scheduler to fix what he saw as a broken class registration experience. The tool launched in August 2025 and pulled data from MSU's system, MSUgrades.com, and RateMyProfessor.com, then used AI to generate schedules based on student preferences. Fourteen thousand visitors showed up in the first two weeks. Students liked seeing grades, professor ratings, and schedules in one place instead of clicking through MSU's official Student Information System. Campbell spent three months building it. Then he got an email while driving to Tennessee with the subject line "Urgent: You may be suspended from MSU."
The university said Spartan Scheduler violated a 2024 campus safety policy because it didn't require MSU NetID authentication. Class times and locations were publicly accessible. Campbell took the site down within five minutes of receiving the email. He had no prior disciplinary record, but MSU still issued a deferred suspension along with requirements to write apology letters and essays. "What started as a tool I built solely to help students almost got me kicked out of the university," Campbell told The State News.
The 2024 policy restricting public access to class information came after MSU enhanced campus security measures. Some students backed the university's decision. Freshman Shreya Mishra, who used Spartan Scheduler, told The State News that security mattered more to her than convenience, especially given the 2023 shooting on campus. Others thought the punishment didn't fit the offense. Campbell said he wasn't aware of the policy change and assumed public class data was fine to use. He wanted the site searchable on Google without an authentication barrier.
Campbell scraped class information using his own MSU credentials, then republished it without access controls. MSU framed it as a safety issue. Even helpful intent didn't shield him from the consequences. His deferred suspension stays on his record.