Northwestern University is not wasting much time on appealing the ruling earlier this week from the National Labor Relations Board. The university issued a statement confirming the school will request the NLRB in Washington D.C. to review the ruling made Wednesday in Chicago by a regional office.
“Northwestern believes the decision overlooked or completely ignored much of the critical testimony supporting the University’s position that student-athletes are not employees of Northwestern, and the regional director also applied incorrect legal standards,” the statement from Vice President for University Relations Alan Cubbage says. “In the meantime, we will follow established NLRB procedures.”
The ruling by the NLRB stated football players at Northwestern should be classified as employees of the university, which allowed the College Athletes Players Association to begin moving to the next phase of the union movement, which is to vote no officials. That process will have to be put on hold though until the appeal from the university is sorted. This was expected all along of course, as the union movement is still in the very early stages of development even with the landmark decision made Wednesday.
Northwestern’s statement claims the university will file a formal request for review to the NLRB in Washington D.C. by April 9, which will allow for proper documentation and review materials to be compiled by the university.