by Kim Jarrett
A squabble between Vanderbilt University graduate students and the school has students caught in the middle as they try to protect their privacy.
United Auto Workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Oct. 2 to form the union, which includes about 2,200 employees, according to the National Labor Relations Board online record.
Vanderbilt’s position is that graduate students are students.
“We believe graduate students do not meet the definition of employee under the National Labor Relations Act because they do not perform work in exchange for compensation,” the university said on a web page that provides information on the possible union. “Further, if our graduate students join a union, they will be changing the relationship between themselves and our faculty in a way that we do not believe fosters the educational environment best suited for student learning.”
The case is before the federal labor board. It filed two subpoenas requesting student information from Vanderbilt, including payroll records and appointment letters. More than 80 students filed objections to having their personal information released.
Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing free legal services to employees who say unions have violated their rights, represents two of the students.
“This is in direct conflict with this Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, the FERPA Act, that basically says that institutions like Vanderbilt are prohibited from providing any third party with information about their students, or information that the student may not want to pass along to a third party,” Mix said in an interview with The Center Square. “The university has to get permission before they can submit any information or give any information to a third party. So, Vanderbilt’s management is in a very difficult situation because on one hand, the National Labor Relations Board Act says ‘you’ve got to turn this over to us’ but then this Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act says you cannot give it unless the student actually says you can.”
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed a motion on behalf of the two students with the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. There is no timetable as to when a decision could be made, he said.
“UAW officials are seeking to override college students’ federal privacy protections, which in addition to having no basis in law also treats students as pawns in the union’s ascent to power at the university,” Mix said.
Vanderbilt graduate students started discussions about unionizing in 2021 and reached out to United Auto Workers, according to the Vanderbilt Graduate Workers United-UAW website. They said they want a living wage, benefits, better protections for international students and a voice in university policies.
More than 150,000 graduate students belong to unions, and 41,460 of the students are in California, according to the 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education from The National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. The number of union graduate student employees in private institutions is almost double that of public institutions.
United Auto Workers represents the most students with union memberships with 644,001 and has the most units with 19, according to the report.
– – –
Kim Jarrett’s career spans over 30 years with stops in radio, print and television. She has won awards from both the Georgia Press Association and the Georgia Association of Broadcasters. Jarrett is an associate editor for The Center Square.
Photo “Graduate Students” by Vanderbilt Graduate Workers United-UAW.
