In a precedent-setting move that could help nudge college sports along its path to gradual ruin, the decidedly lackluster Dartmouth College Big Green men's basketball team on Tuesday voted to form a union. Players who led the effort said they seek a "less exploitative business model for college sports."
By a 13-2 vote, the team voted to join Local 560 of the Service Employees International Union. The second-largest labor union in the United States, SEIU is a major financial backer of Democratic Party candidates.
The Dartmouth administration, which had previously warned that unionization could result in the team being ejected from the Ivy League, reiterated its stance that college athletes are not employees, making unionization inappropriate:
"The students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth. For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience. Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate."
The unionization vote came on the same day the Big Green ended their 2023-24 season dead last in the Ivy League and 6-21 overall, going 0-14 on the road, winning only two league games, and ranking number 334 out of 362 Division I teams in KenPom's computer rankings.
“Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It’s time for the age of amateurism to end,” declared 6'6" junior forward and union rep Cade Haskins, who scored 9 points all season and averaged 2.5 minutes in the 10 games in which he was put on the floor. According to his official team bio, he's a "possible economics major."
Dartmouth basketball fans no doubt wish they were stuck in the past: It's been 65 years since the Big Green appeared in the NCAA tournament, the longest tourney drought among teams that have appeared at least once.
"Let's work together to create a less exploitative business model for college sports," said Haskins and teammate and fellow union rep Romeo Myrthil, a a 6' 2" guard from Sweden. The unionizing hoopsters don't seem to have articulated any specific grievances thus far. The Ivy League doesn't give athletic scholarships, but does give need-based ones. The total annual cost of attendance at Dartmouth for the current academic year is $87,315.
Dartmouth basketball unionizes. Hilarious. I guess they'll threaten to sit out games if the coach doesn't allocate playing time by seniority? Cap minutes played at 30 a game? Require less hustle on defense?
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) March 5, 2024
Good! Reveal the absurd nature of the whole concept of organized labor. pic.twitter.com/q0zure2RPB
Dartmouth basketball isn't exactly a financial gusher for the New Hampshire school, making the players' rhetoric about being "exploited" ring hollow. Attendance at the Big Green's rare, Tuesday night victory over Harvard was just 809.
The vote is a significant milestone, but the team won't be collectively bargaining anytime soon, as the issue is bound to be wrestled over in federal court. Dartmouth has already appealed to the National Labor Relations Board, asking the regulatory body to reverse a regional NLRB official's February decision that Dartmouth athletes are employees and therefore eligible for unionization.
“Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation, I find that the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the (National Labor Relations) Act,” wrote NLRB's Laura Sacks at the time.
The NLRB's jurisdiction only covers private schools like Dartmouth. In 2015, the agency blocked Northwestern University football's attempt to unionize, saying that -- since Northwestern was the only private school in the Big Ten Conference -- giving the Wildcats the power to collectively bargain would be too disruptive.
Dartmouth fans must be wondering if their team will someday go on strike. As an alternative union tactic, they could try an on-court work "slowdown." However, given the Big Green basketball's performance in recent years, would anyone even notice?
