Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has banned graduate-student research assistants in public universities from unionizing following the efforts of 1,200 students to organize a union in April 2011. Snyder said in a statement that research assistants are students and giving them public-employee status and union representation would alter the student–teacher relationship. This is the latest action against US graduate-student unions. In 2004, New York University's union was disbanded under a state labour-board decision. Student representatives from Michigan State University in East Lansing and University of Michigan in Ann Arbor did not respond to interview requests.