Broad Art Museum.JPG

Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon in 2012.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon said allowing student athletes to unionize transforms "the college-sports relationship into one of employer-employee."

That's what Simon said in an op-ed, co-written with Wake Forest University president Nathan Hatch, on Monday in the Wall Street Journal.

"To call student-athletes employees is an affront to those players who are taking full advantage of the opportunity to get an education," wrote Simon, who is also the chairwoman of the NCAA executive committee, and Hatch, the chairman of the NCAA Division I board of directors.

The editorial comes after a National Labor Relations Board director ruled last month that Northwestern University football players could unionize. The players will vote April 25 in a secret ballot on whether they want to unionize.

The ruling sided with players because of the large amount of time players devote to playing and practice, as well as the control of the coaches and scholarships, according to the New York Times.

Simon and Hatch said there are several issues in the current NCAA system that need to be changed. They said student athletes should have a say in how college sports are governed and they should be able to complete their degrees after their eligibility to play sports has expired.

"We believe that the current model for college athletics, while in need of changes, is worth preserving," Simon and Hatch wrote.

There are several other reasons why the athletes want to unionize, Ramogi Huma, president of the union College Athletes Players Association, told the Washington Post last week. "We're not advocating for salaries. We want coverage for injured players, concussion reform and those types of basic protections."

Could student athlete unions come to Michigan? According to Time Magazine, a 2012 paper published in the Buffalo Law Review said that Michigan has been favorable to student-worker unionism. But it is hard to tell what the ruling could mean for public universities, since Northwestern is a private school.

Fritz Klug is a news buzz reporter for MLive. Contact him at fklug@mlive.com or 269-370-0584. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or App.net.