"I don't think our students are in a comparable situation....I don't get the feeling that our students feel in any way that they should push for a redefinition of their status as employees," Wolff says.

The lack of widespread discontent at Harvard can be attributed to the better care and compensation that Harvard provides its graduate students, says Elgin K. Eckert, vice-president of the Graduate Student Council (GSC).

Eckert says that graduate students are compensated and treated even better once they start teaching, as opposed to what she believes is the situation at Yale.

According to statistics released by Yale Graduate School, the annual stipend for graduate students' living expenses in the Humanities and Social Sciences is $10,200. The typical stipend for a student with teaching responsibilities both semesters is $90 more.

Ninety percent of Yale's graduate students do not pay tuition out-of-pocket. Support for tuition does not change in years when students teach.

"Harvard takes much better care of us in most departments once we start teaching. At Harvard, departments really try to give even more when you teach than if you just have a fellowship," Eckert says.

Adam P. Fagen, president of the GSC, also says he believes higher compensation may be a reason for the difference between the two universities. "My sense is that students at Yale are paid significantly less for presumably comparable work than at Harvard. Students at Harvard are treated quite well in comparison," Fagen says.

Dismissal Overruled

On Monday, Judge Michael O. Miller denied a Yale motion to dismiss the case. The motion contends that this case is not significantly different from those that form NLRB precedent.

In previous cases, spanning two decades, the NLRB ruled consistently that the prospect of collective bargaining between students and teachers was "an anathema" and the "very antithesis" of the educational process, according to Yale's motion.

The university argued that since the NLRB has previously denied graduate students the status of employees, the charge of unfair labor practices, which applies only to employees covered under the National Labor Relations Act, should be dismissed.

However, university officials say they are not worried about the ruling against them.

"The motion to dismiss was one aspect of our legal case and the fact that the judge did not accept it is not unexpected at all and we weren't counting on it," says Conroy.

Conroy says that these motions are rarely accepted because the judge frequently wants to hear both sides of the issue.

Members of the GESO are more optimistic about future prospects with this new ruling.

"We can only hope that with this ruling, Yale will finally abandon the rhetoric of denial and acknowledge the work done by its graduate teachers," says GESO spokesperson Robin Brown in a press release.