"Unionization is an issue that has never come up in the GSC," she said.

In light of the recent NLRB decision, "it will be interesting to see what graduate students say," said Laskin. "It may generate some discussion that we will need to address."

Sally A. Baker, spokesperson for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said the issue is not yet pressing at Harvard.

"For us, it's still a theoretical issue. There is no official reaction because we're not dealing with this [issue] at the moment."

Baker cited a new financial aid policy that led to an increase in stipends to graduate students as evidence that the University treats its graduate students well.

"At this point Harvard doesn't have a reason to think that things [for graduate students] are not as good as they always have been," she said.

The NLRB decision affects only private universities.

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board ruled two weeks ago that graduate students at Temple University, a state-affiliated school, could form a union. In that decision and the one involving NYU, the labor boards cited a 1999 case where the NLRB declared medical interns and residents at Boston Medical Center to be employees and not students.