The College Fix

Legal challenges to data collection by the United Auto Workers led to it abandoning its organizing

The Vanderbilt Graduate Workers Union has abandoned its attempt to organize a local at the university after it lost a legal challenge to its data request.

A federal court previously ruled in favor of the university’s request that it not turn over contact information for its graduate students. The union, an affiliate of the United Auto Workers, requested it for organizing purposes.

The National Right to Work Foundation, which represented three graduate students, also had filed a request to intervene in the case. However, the UAW announced on Dec. 12 it would no longer pursue subpoenas.

The worker freedom group celebrated the decision in a statement sent to The College Fix. It is still representing clients at Dartmouth University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“While we’re happy that the private information of Vanderbilt grad students is now secure from prying union eyes, it’s clear from both that case and many other cases that Foundation attorneys are litigating for grad students around the country that union monopoly bargaining power has no place in the academic sphere,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix stated.

“Union bosses were able to get a foothold at colleges and universities as the result of biased rulings from the NLRB under Obama and Biden, which has jeopardized not only academic freedom, but also religious freedom, and federal protections that students rely on for privacy and security,” Mix stated.

“While no one in America should be forced to accept the control of a union boss hierarchy they oppose, courts and federal agencies in the new year should look to these cases as prime examples of why the union monopoly bargaining model should never have been extended to graduate students at all,” Mix also stated.

One client, known as “Jane Doe 1,” explained her opposition to her private data being turned over to the union.

“Many of my colleagues and I simply want to pursue our academic studies, and oppose not only UAW organizers having our private contact information, but also being forced to associate with a union at all in order to earn our graduate degrees,” the graduate student stated.

“The withdrawal of UAW organizers’ petition seeking a vote to unionize us against our will is a welcome victory for us in our defense of our rights and the rights of our fellow graduate students.”

University leadership said the end of the unionization effort will be better for the relationship between its graduate students and the school

“Vanderbilt’s leadership remains deeply committed to listening to your feedback and enhancing your experience as a vital part of our academic community,” the leaders wrote, according to a statement provided to the Nashville Scene. “Your voices are integral to ensuring that all graduate students thrive at Vanderbilt.”

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IMAGE: Vandy Grad Workers United/Instagram

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