COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — University of Missouri officials say they’re looking into whether a graduate student employee union would be legal.

Interim President Mike Middleton said in a release Wednesday that the university is seeking to determine if it’s legal for graduate students to organize. He says there’s no legal precedent in current Missouri law.

The release was issued after an unpublicized meeting between administrators and representatives of the Coalition for Graduate Workers and the National Education Association.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the graduate employee rights movement began after officials at the Columbia campus announced last August the university would immediately stop paying graduate students’ health insurance premiums because of possible penalties stemming from provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

The university later reversed its decision.