Can graduate students at private universities unionize?
Administration Responds: Under current precedent of the National Labor Relations Board, no. Since 1972, the NLRB has held that students who provide to universities services that further their educational programs are primarily students and therefore are not employees for purposes of the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB, however, is currently reviewing a case involving medical house staff at Boston Medical Center whose outcome might affect the status of graduate students under the NLRA.
