AAUP Comments on Proposed NLRB Rule

The AAUP submitted comments in January to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking. The proposed rule would exempt from the NLRB’s jurisdiction undergraduate and graduate students who perform services for financial compensation in connection with their studies. The AAUP’s comments to the NLRB strongly support the rights of graduate assistants to organize and form unions, and they counter arguments made by the board’s majority that misuse academic freedom to justify the proposed rule. For a detailed discussion of the arguments, read the Legal Watch column in this issue of Academe.