class that UW or F can be erased, for your official BYU gpa. BUT, when you apply to graduate schools they will standardize your gpa. In that process the UW can still count as part of the adjusted gpa. This is important to know. Your BYU gpa can be quite different than your adjusted gpa for grad school applications.
I wonder if the student went in to speak with his advisor or the admin to get a special permission to handle the class differently? For example, change it to an on-line class with a one year time frame to finish?