I didn’t assign seats in my current Pre-Calc (high level - heading to college) classes in high school. I didn’t assign them when I was teaching Animal and Plant Science or plain ole Biology either. Ok, I’ve never assigned seats except for tests where it was required (PSAT/SAT/Keystones, etc).
If there had been a behavior problem, I’d have dealt with it. There never was.
Add me to those who are boggled about a college prof assigning seats.
Someone might want to tell him he can make a seating chart from where the kids sit and learn names that way. The vast majority will get a seat and stay there. If you notice someone changes, you figure out that creating them in pencil allows you to easily modify the chart.