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Over 1,000 graduate teaching and research assistants petitioned New York University earlier this week to recognize a union representing grad student interests. There are currently no grad student unions at private universities in the US, and, citing this, NYU officials said they would not recognize the union. Undeterred, 1,600 graduate students have undertaken a mission to persuade the National Labor Relations Board to reverse a 2004 decision that said grad students at private universities are students first, not workers. The students are hopeful that with the NLRB now dominated by Obama appointees, they might have a chance. The students say they perform essential services for the university and deserve to be treated as workers. They are seeking representation from the United Auto Workers, which represents a number of white collar industries.