A federal appeals court March 12 upheld a National Labor Relations Board test for deciding when a particular group of college professors can join a union, but it warned that the board misapplies the test when it focuses too closely on the numerical makeup of university governing committees.
The court’s decision means a more lenient test for deciding whether a particular faculty subgroup—such as adjunct professors—can unionize will largely remain in place, for now. The test was enacted in 2014 by a Democratic majority of the five-member board in a case called Pacific Lutheran.
“The point with which the...