One of the younger team members asked me if he could use one of the machines to compile homework for another course. Given that the machine wasn't critical, I said certainly! (Applauding his initiative)

A week later, the department sys admin sends me an email, noting our server pegged cpu and men utilization briefly and asking if we required additional resources.

I responded, laid out exactly what happened (omitting the student's name), thank him for the attention, and tell him we don't need anything.

At which point he drops me from the email chain, writes to the professor in charge of our group (a guy doing some really interesting stuff in AUUVs, and only teaching undergrads out of the kindness of his heart), and launches into a tirade about students abusing system resources, unfair advantages, violations of the honor code, academic integrity cases, etc.

After discussing it with my professor, I send the admin an email apologizing for the misunderstanding, will make sure it won't happen again, and would appreciate if he raised concerns with me first next time.

To which professor receives another email about "not letting students contact him about faculty matters." My prof told me to stop emailing him, which I wisely listened to. The student's name was never shared, and no actions were taken.

But my takeaway was that kid almost had his academic career (and potentially his future) trashed, because someone decided to get a bee in their bonnet over an interpretation of rules.

... As a happy ending, I happened to know the BOFH in social circles outside of academia (doubt he linked me to my school self) and subsequent to this interaction his marriage collapsed, he moved to his farm, and eventually left university and took up an in depth study of the copious and frequent application of alcohol. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...