Dartmouth Hoops Joins Union

[HoosierPal]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/dartmouth-mens-basketball-team-votes-to-unionize-in-historic-moment-for-college-sports/

Add this to the growing list of issues in college sports.  Dartmouth players want to be considered employees of the university.  More specifically, the players want to be compensated the same as other student employees of the University.  (Ivy League schools do not give out athletic scholarships.)

This NPR article provides more depth.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1235877656/ncaa-dartmouth-mens-basketball-union-election-nlrb

[thatskablamo]

1 hour ago, HoosierPal said:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/dartmouth-mens-basketball-team-votes-to-unionize-in-historic-moment-for-college-sports/

Add this to the growing list of issues in college sports.  Dartmouth players want to be considered employees of the university.  More specifically, the players want to be compensated the same as other student employees of the University.  (Ivy League schools do not give out athletic scholarships.)

This NPR article provides more depth.

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1235877656/ncaa-dartmouth-mens-basketball-union-election-nlrb

So their head coach is now their boss? I’d love to see that coach just walk over to the starting five with pink slips on senior night. 

[HoosierPal]

14 minutes ago, thatskablamo said:

So their head coach is now their boss? I’d love to see that coach just walk over to the starting five with pink slips on senior night. 

“Coach we are striking. Not gonna play tonight’s game unless we get overtime pay.”

[Lord Elrond]

43 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

“Coach we are striking. Not gonna play tonight’s game unless we get overtime pay.”

Ok, so if they are employees, how does this work? Every game, practice, film viewing session, and travel time means they get paid for that time.  But here’s the real question, as a condition of their employment they have to be students. Since that is a condition of their employment, doesn’t that mean they also have to be compensated for that time, time spent in class and studying? And before you say doesn’t that mean they have to students to be a grad assistant, the answer is technically no, each job is just a semester by semester thing, if they aren’t a student they don’t get the job, or if they aren’t enrolled anymore they don’t get the job, but that’s not the same thing as being a student athlete, where it specifically says they must be a student. And how does whatever applies to the men’s basketball team not apply to every other athlete in every other sport?

[Soderball]

1 minute ago, Lord Elrond said:

Ok, so if they are employees, how does this work? Every game, practice, film viewing session, and travel time means they get paid for that time.  But here’s the real question, as a condition of their employment they have to be students. Since that is a condition of their employment, doesn’t that mean they also have to be compensated for that time, time spent in class and studying? And before you say doesn’t that mean they have to students to be a grad assistant, the answer is technically no, each job is just a semester by semester thing, if they aren’t a student they don’t get the job, or if they aren’t enrolled anymore they don’t get the job, but that’s not the same thing as being a student athlete, where it specifically says they must be a student. And how does whatever applies to the men’s basketball team not apply to every other athlete in every other sport?

Of course it will apply. Every athlete has the exact same right to it; will they all be represented by the same union? Or will the men's basketball team decide to be discriminatory and not include the ladies, or the diving team?

 

This whole thing is preposterous and insane but legally we are careening towards it.

 

 

The law does not have to make sense; it is whatever the judge says it is.

[Old guy]

21 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

Ok, so if they are employees, how does this work? Every game, practice, film viewing session, and travel time means they get paid for that time.  But here’s the real question, as a condition of their employment they have to be students. Since that is a condition of their employment, doesn’t that mean they also have to be compensated for that time, time spent in class and studying? And before you say doesn’t that mean they have to students to be a grad assistant, the answer is technically no, each job is just a semester by semester thing, if they aren’t a student they don’t get the job, or if they aren’t enrolled anymore they don’t get the job, but that’s not the same thing as being a student athlete, where it specifically says they must be a student. And how does whatever applies to the men’s basketball team not apply to every other athlete in every other sport?

Just looking at the list of issues, there will be legal action happening over a number of years in the future to solve these issues at Dartmouth. Let's face it, as far as the IVYs are concerned sports are not a significant aspect of their programs. My opinion is that they will degrade their sports down from Div I and place them wherever they want to get them to avoid these student/employee/athlete conundrums. Take Wash U, they are Div II, why? Because their primary interest is academics not sports. I cannot see the IVYs spending years and millions of dollars dealing with these issues in court. As a matter of fact Harvard was not unionized when I was there.