Yale’s unofficial graduate student union Local 33 will be allowed to hold separate labor elections in nine academic departments, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Wednesday.

The decision by NLRB Regional Director John Walsh means that for the first time in the nearly 30-year history of Yale’s graduate student unionization movement, graduate students on campus will have the chance to participate in a legally binding vote on whether to bargain collectively with Yale. The dates of the elections have not been announced.

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“The fact patterns that the regional director found are likely to apply to other universities,” said William Gould, a former chairman of the NLRB. “And if the courts and a future board find [the August decision] to be good law, it could well be that this would carry over to other universities.”