The National Labor Relations Board has gone back-and-forth on whether graduate students at private universities can form unions three times in the past 19 years.

Observers expect that the National Labor Relations Board will reverse an Obama-era determination that graduate students are employees entitled to form unions.

After negotiating for eight months, the University of California becomes one of the first research institutions in the US to stop paying for access to the publisher’s journals.

The UC system is pushing to change the subscription model and accelerate open access, but if there’s no contract agreement by December 31, faculty and students lose access altogether.

The plan would also allow non-EU countries to pay to participate in EU research programs, albeit without wielding “decisional power.”

A consortium of institutions will not renew its contract with the publisher that ends in June, following the lead of organizations in other countries.