The Dartmouth men's basketball team voted Tuesday to become the first program in the history of collegiate athletics to unionize.

According to Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports, all 15 members of the team participated in the vote, and they were in favor of unionizing by a 13-2 tally.

In response to the decision to unionize, Dartmouth College released a statement, expressing the school's belief that unionization is not "appropriate" since it does not consider student-athletes to be employees of the college:

Per Parker Purifoy of Bloomberg Law, the Dartmouth men's basketball team voted to unionize with the Service Employees International Union, and they will be represented by SEIU Local 560.

Purifoy noted that the path toward a vote was paved by a recent court decision that ruled the Dartmouth men's basketball players are in fact employees of Dartmouth College.

The NCAA responded to Dartmouth's actions in a statement, saying the players "should not be forced into an employment model."

The National Labor Relations Board, under the National Labor Relations Act, made the determination on Feb. 5, which allowed the players to vote on their status.

That ruling and the Dartmouth men's basketball team's subsequent decision to unionize could be the latest turn of events to shake the foundation of collegiate sports.

For decades, college athletes were unable to profit off their name, image and likeness (NIL), but that changed in 2021 when the Supreme Court ruled that student-athletes are permitted to be compensated.

In the wake of Tuesday's vote, Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, who are representing the Dartmouth men's basketball players, released a statement in which they announced their intention to meet with other Dartmouth sports programs, as well as other programs within the Ivy League:

"Today is a big day for our team. We stuck together all season and won this election. Over the next few months, we will continue to talk to other athletes at Dartmouth and throughout the Ivy League about forming unions and working together to advocate for athletes' rights and well-being."

According to Purifoy, Dartmouth launched an appeal against the National Labor Relations Board's decision, and if the appeal is rejected, its only option will be to refuse to bargain with the basketball players, which will force the courts to review the student-athletes' case for being considered employees.

The Dartmouth men's basketball team's existence dates back to the 1899-1900 season, and it won a national championship in 1906.

The program finished as the national runner-up in both 1942 and 1944, but it has not reached the NCAA tournament since 1959.

This season, the Big Green are 5-21, marking the 24th consecutive campaign they have failed to finish with the winning record.

Following their landmark decision and vote, the Big Green men's basketball team will close out their 2023-24 season Tuesday night when they host Harvard.