Domestic Glance
A decision to allow Northwestern University football players to unionize Wednesday is a first-of-its-kind ruling that could rattle conventional thinking about student athletes, lead to changes in the way they are treated and even discourage colleges and universities from running athletic programs.
The National Labor Relations Board ruling comes at a time when questions are growing about the tight hold the National Collegiate Athletic Association — which made $913 million in 2013 — has on its student athletes.
The ruling says players are technically “employees” of the university, and they have a right to vote on whether they want to be represented by the College Athletes Players Association.
Florida state prosecutor Jeffrey Ashton says he had qualms about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of the Ibragim Todashev affair, but still found justifiable the interrogation shooting of the Chechen street fighter in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.
