Northwestern University has formally requested that the National Labor Relations Board overrule and reverse a decision by one of its regional directors that said the school’s athletes were really employees and therefore had the right to unionize.

“While we respect the NLRB process, we disagree strongly with the regional director’s opinion. We hope that the full NLRB will not only review this decision but will hold that Northwestern’s football scholarship athletes are not employees, and the petition seeking an election for the players to vote on union representation will be dismissed,” said Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations, in a statement Wednesday.