Northwestern AD disagrees with union

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Northwestern Athletics Director Jim Phillips agrees with the welfare issues his athletes have chosen to address, but he doesn't agree that forming a unions is the best way to address those grievances.

'There are issues at the national level that I'm really proud of our kids bringing up and describing,” Phillips said. 'I think the aspect of unionization, that's what we've debated. I know it's not the right mechanism for change, nationally, but areas of welfare and health and safety, those are the right things for us to be talking about.”

Big Ten officials and athletic directors Tuesday discussed issues ranging from unions to governance to stipends at their annual spring meeting. Efforts by former Northwestern player Kain Colter to unionize the program took center stage at the new Big Ten office building. A regional officer of the National Labor Relations Board ruled this spring that Northwestern football players could form a union, but the school has appealed to the national NLRB. Players cast ballots on April 25, but the results won't be known for an undetermined amount of time.

The issue has yet to cause Phillips angst, he said. In fact, he said he's at peace with the process.

'You have young people that we encourage to be leaders on our college campuses and we want them to be independent thinkers and we want them to have a voice,” Phillips said. 'Then at the moment they speak up in something that you may oppose that you're going to have some sort of angst over that? I don't call it angst. I would call it ... that's what a place like Northwestern does. It creates this kind of independent thinking. Do I believe it's the right mechanism? I don't believe it's the right mechanism.”

Among the issues Phillips champions for athletes include safety, health and consistency in training hours. He believes athletes deserve a bigger voice nationally and shift from an advisory to a voting role.

'The hope and the goal is that all of this can lead to a better destination for college athletics,” Phillips said. 'That's a good thing.”

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