Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team voted Tuesday to form a union, becoming the first college athletes to do so.
The step of organizing a union and becoming an employee in the multibillion-dollar U.S. college sports industry could pave the way for other student-athletes to follow at their respective universities.
The election was overseen by the school’s Human Resources Department and the National Labor Relations Board, The Associated Press reported. report The players voted 13-2 to join the Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some of Dartmouth’s workers. Every player on the roster voted.
“This is a big day for our team,” said Dartmouth juniors Cade Haskins and Romeo Marcil, who led the effort. “We came together all season and won this election. It is self-evident that we, students, can be campus employees and union members. Dartmouth seems stuck in the past. Amateurs It’s time for the era of rhythm to end.”
Dartmouth basketball players Romeo Marcil (left) and Cade Haskins speak after voting at Dartmouth College on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Hanover, New Hampshire. The vote to unionize is an unprecedented step toward forming the first-ever union for college athletes. (AP Photo/Jimmy Goren)
Dartmouth has warned that if students form a union, the team could be expelled from the Ivy League and even the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Associated Press reported.
A spokesperson for the New Hampshire-based university said the university immediately filed a complaint with the board of governors, challenging whether university athletes can be appointed as employees. Dartmouth said:
For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of paramount importance and athletic pursuits are part of the educational experience. Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is both unprecedented and inaccurate.
Therefore, we do not believe that it is appropriate to form a trade union.
The NCAA has long maintained that its players are “student-athletes” who primarily attend school to study, but college sports have become a multibillion-dollar industry that pays huge sums to coaches and schools. grown.
Meanwhile, the NCAA recently moved to allow athletes to be paid for the use of their name, image and likeness, but players remain unpaid.
“I think this is just the beginning,” Haskins said excitedly after the vote. “I think this could have a domino effect on other cases across the country and lead to other changes.”
The players’ union will likely face a lengthy legal battle before it can begin negotiations with universities over pay and working conditions.
according to ESPNThe only other time a similar effort took place was with the 2016 Northwestern University football team.
