Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Votes To Become First College Team To Unionize

Their initiative follows a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s restrictions on student-athlete earnings violates antitrust laws.

Brian Niemietz New York Daily News
Printer friendly  
Dartmouth Big Green players huddle during their game against Columbia Lions in their NCAA men’s basketball game on February 16, 2024 in New York City. ,(Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday voted 13-2 in favor of becoming the first college sports program to unionize.

The Big Green plans to team up with SEIU Local 560, which represents more than 500 employees at the Ivy League school in Hanover, N.H. In addition to basketball players, the local union claims security guards, craftsman and custodians in its brotherhood.

“It’s time to bargain a fair contract,” the union wrote to the college on social media. “NCAA athletes deserve better.”

The team announced its intention to unionize in September in a column penned by basketball players Romeo Myrthil and Cade Haskins for the school’s newspaper.

“We deeply appreciate the opportunity that we have to study at Dartmouth, but the business of college sports is different today than it was a few years ago,” the teammates wrote in The Dartmouth.

Their initiative follows a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s restrictions on student-athlete earnings violates antitrust laws. Sports programs typically bring considerable income to colleges and universities.

Myrthil and Haskins wrote that they hope to see student-athletes monetarily compensated for their labor like other students employed on campus. They also want Dartmouth to be held responsible for costs associated with “any long-term disabilities” incurred by athletes representing Dartmouth during sporting events.

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Collegiate athletes aren’t currently paid by their schools, though they are allowed to capitalize on their personal brands through sponsorships and endorsements. But that isn’t an option for everyone who plays a college sport.

Myrthil and Haskins called Tuesday’s vote “a big day for our team” and called for an end to “the age of amateurism” in college athletics.

Dartmouth basketball players Romeo Myrthil, left, and Cade Haskins talk after voting at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Dartmouth basketball players vote Tuesday on whether to form a union.(AP Photo/Jimmy Golen)

Dartmouth basketball players Romeo Myrthil, left, and Cade Haskins talk after voting at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Dartmouth basketball players vote Tuesday on whether to form a union.(AP Photo/Jimmy Golen)

Dartmouth is appealing the National Labor Relations Board’s decision last month to recognize its student-athletes as employees.

“For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience,” Dartmouth said in a statement opposing union certification.

School officials have one week to appeal Tuesday’s election procedure, which lasted about an hour.

With 21 losses in 26 games, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team sits in last place in the Ivy League standings. The team plays its final game against Harvard Tuesday night. They didn’t qualify for the March 15 Ivy League Madness tournament at the Upper West Side’s Francis S. Levien Gymnasium.

Brian Niemietz started with the Daily News in July 2012 and works on the National News desk, covering breaking news, politics, crime, celebrity and sometimes, all those things at once.