March 5 (UPI) -- The mens basketball team at the New Hampshire-based Dartmouth University on Tuesday voted to unionize in a 13-2 vote, becoming the first college sports team to form a union.
The university itself will have until March 12 to file their objection with the National Labor Relations Board against the team who are set to join the local 560 chapter of the the Service Employees International Union, also known as SEIU.
Dartmouth called the vote an "isolated circumstance," stating their belief "the students on the men's basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth" and that the university does "not believe unionization is appropriate."
"Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate," the university said in a statement.
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In a statement, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry called the move "an historic step forward for economic justice, racial justice and union rights."
"This victory manifests the aspirations of one of the most pro-union generations in American history," Henry commented. "From Uber and Lyft drivers and others deliberately excluded from labor laws to Starbucks workers demanding a fair collective bargaining agreement, today's decision will inspire all of those in the fight for their freedom to form a union."
The university administration made an effort last week to delay Tuesday's vote to unionize for Dartmouth, which sits last in the Ivy League set to play a final season game against Harvard University.
In February, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Dartmouth's basketball players were considered "employees" of the school and Dartmouth filed an appeal on that decision on Tuesday.
According to ESPN, the only time a similar effort took place was in 2016 with the Northwestern University football team.
The SEIU Local 560 said in a statement how Dartmouth's appeal means they are "missing an opportunity to make history with these courageous student workers."
"The players are our members and we will support them to the end of this process," Chris Peck, president of the SEIU Local 560 in Hanover, said in a joint SEIU statement.
